Starting April 21, Google will be expanding their use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, meaning more #mobilefriendly sites in search results.

As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, their algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in search results.

Will my website be affected?

Take a moment to test a few pages from your website, you can use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test Tool. Your results will give you a good idea of what Google thinks of your website's Mobile Friendliness.

Another thing to consider is how much mobile traffic do you actually get from searches? You can find out this information from your Google Analytics. If you're getting traffic from mobile users you will see a drop off over time if your website is not mobile friendly.

This currently won't affect desktop searches, however there are indications that mobile friendliness will become a web standards feature in the future.

It is a good time to consider future proofing your website. If your current budget priorities don't allow for this right now and you don't have a large amount of mobile traffic to your website you can make these changes in your own time.

Why are Google making these changes?

As with most of their changes Google is aiming primarily to provide a better experience for searchers, and give people exactly what they want. In this case the searchers are mobile searchers, which a growing number of visitors to websites are.

These changes work inline with Google's existing ranking factors that focus on having a great website that your visitors like to use.

How much will making my website Mobile-Friendly cost?

The simple answer is that it varies. If your website was created several years ago, it may also be a good opportunity to add those new features you've been thinking about, or to re-brand your website.

There can be savings made if it's an exact re-build in terms of design (with allowances for modern website layouts), features and functionality. There are also great benefits of upgrading your website, for example it will be easier to manage and update content.

If you have any questions about this process please contact us, we're experts at building responsive websites.