Some More Info About The BIG April 21st Google Update

TL;DR: We knew the big Google update for mobile ranking was coming. Now we know a little more about what it will affect (and what it won’t, such as tablets).

The big mobile search ranking update Google announced for April 21st isn’t news; we’ve known about it for a while now.

Today, a great piece on Search Engine Watch broke down the various parts of what you do – and don’t – need to do for your site to prepare.

As Chuck Price writes,

Google may have announced the update early, but it hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with details. Webmaster trends analyst Gary Illyes did share a few details in a recent Q&A.

Most notably:

  • Responsive design does not have a ranking benefit
  • Googlebot must be allowed to crawl CSS & JavaScript to pass the “mobile-friendly” test
  • Mobile friendliness is determined at the page level – not sitewide
  • Tablets will not be affected by this update
  • Google is currently working on a dedicated mobile index

Ensure your site is mobile-friendly (I recommend responsive design, and so does Google, though it won’t affect your ranking if you choose a mobile site instead).

If your site isn’t responsive, talk to the person who made your website. With how easy it is to build responsive sites nowadays, it shouldn’t be too expensive to update your site design.

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