Mobile search rankings shakeup — Google begins

Search rankings on mobile devices are shifting starting today.

Today is the day. Google has begun changing search results on mobile phones based on if sites are mobile friendly or not.

As stated by a blog post from the firm, the search rankings rollout will start today but take regarding “a week or so” ahead of it gets to all pages in the index.

The rankings are on a page-by-page basis, so site owners can’t just make a mobile-friendly home page and skip the rest of the site.

The good news for website owners that haven’t mobilized yet is that Google determines if a site is good for mobile each time its Googlebot for smartphones crawls the page. In other words, failure to be mobile ready today doesn’t mean a site will be sent to purgatory forever.

Also, Google stresses that non-mobile sites can still rank well on smartphone searches if the content is significantly better than competing mobile-friendly sites.

Frequently Asked Questions regarding the change are available on Google’s site.