4/21/15 was a date marked down in every SEO’s calendar with a giant red star next to it. That’s the day Google planned to roll out its mobile-friendly algorithm. They preannounced the update, which is rare, and Google explained it would have a significant impact on the smartphone search results.
But then 4/21 arrived and nothing changed. And I mean nothing… I’ve been checking a wide range of sites across categories and countries, and nothing changed at all.
That’s until noon today. :)
Then I started to notice differences in the desktop rankings versus smartphone rankings across a number of sites I’m tracking. Google did say it could take a week to roll out, so I’m sure this is just the beginning.
I’ve provided screenshots below of the initial examples. I’ll provide the domain, query, desktop ranking, smartphone ranking, and screenshots for both mobile and desktop. Note, I’ll try and update this post with more examples as time goes on.
Here we go:
Example 1:
Domain: potterybarnkids.com
Notes: Most of potterybarnkids.com is mobile-friendly, but there are still pages that aren’t. I ran across this example today while researching the niche. The page ranks #5 in desktop, but slips to #11 in the smartphone results.
Query: girls bedroom ideas
Desktop Ranking: 5
Smartphone Ranking: 11
Desktop: #5
Smartphone: #11
Example 2:
Domain: Bargainist.com
Query: Eddie Bauer Sale
Desktop Ranking: 7
Smartphone Ranking: 16
Desktop: #7
Smartphone: #16
Example 3:
Domain: Moz.com
Query: redirect
Desktop Ranking: 3
Smartphone Ranking: 13
Desktop: #3
Smartphone: #13
Example 4:
Domain: atu2.com
Query: with or without you
Desktop Ranking: 11
Smartphone Ranking: 23
Desktop: #11
Smartphone: #23
Example 5:
{Update 4/26:} I picked up another example of the mobile friendly algorithm in action. It’s an interesting one, as one url moved from #6 to #10, another jumped from page 2 to page 1, while another url slid to page 3 from page 2. Needless to say, moving from page 1 to 2 (or beyond), or vice versa, can have a big impact on visibility and traffic.
For the query “all of me lyrics”, MusixMatch.com (mobile-friendly) moved from #11 in the desktop SERPs to #8 in the smartphone rankings. Songlyrics.com (not mobile-friendly) moved from #12 in the desktop SERPs to #22 in the smartphone rankings (page 3), and lyricsmode.com (not mobile-friendly) moved from #6 in the desktop SERPs to #10 in the smartphone rankings.
Domains: MusixMatch.com, Songlyrics.com, Lyricsmode.com, Songtexte.com
Query: all of me lyrics
MusixMatch.com Desktop Ranking: 11
MusixMatch.com Smartphone Ranking: 8
Songlyrics.com Desktop Ranking: 12
Songlyrics.com Smartphone Ranking: 22 (page 3)
Lyricsmode.com Desktop Ranking: 6
Lyricsmode.com Smartphone Ranking: 10
Desktop SERPs (Page 1):
Desktop SERPs (Page 2):
Smartphone Rankings (Page 1):
Smartphone Rankings (Page 3): Songlyrics.com moved to #22 from #12 in desktop SERPs:
Example 6:
{Update: 4/27} – I’ve added another example based on my research. The screenshots below show the results for boxofficemojo.com. The site ranks #8 in the desktop SERPs for the query “kingsman”, but slides to #19 in the smartphone rankings.
Domain: boxofficemojo.com
Query: kingsman
Desktop Ranking: 8
Smartphone Ranking: 19
Desktop: #8
Smartphone: #19
Example 7:
{Update: 4/28} – I’ve added another example based on my research. It’s an interesting one, since the domain (tomsguide.com) seems to be dropping significantly in the smartphone search results, while ranking on page one in the desktop SERPs.
The screenshots below show tomsguide.com ranking #9 in the desktop SERPs for the query “amazon black friday ad”, but slides to #45 in the smartphone rankings (page 5). Yes, that’s a drop of 36 spots. And the page on tomsguide.com is actually mobile-friendly. Very strange, but definitely worth noting. I’m not sure if this is a mistake on Google’s part or if something else is going on.
Domain: tomsguide.com
Query: amazon black friday ad
Desktop Ranking: 9
Smartphone Ranking: 45 (page 5)
Desktop: #9
Smartphone: #45 (page 5)
It was interesting to see the changes per query. For each of the sites, some rankings remained untouched, while others dropped. And then the rankings drop was sometimes only a few spots, where others were more extreme. This is similar to the smartphones ranking demotion case study I wrote about last year. Anyway, there’s a lot more data to go through before coming to any conclusions.
And these aren’t the only examples I’m seeing. Again, I’ll try and update this post with more examples soon.
Now back to testing. :)
GG
Looks like all your examples are ranking lower on mobile vs desktop. Is it because their mobile-friendliness is an issue?
Also, if they rank lower… then others rank higher! ;)
Yes, those urls are not mobile-friendly and seem to have been demoted. Or you can switch it around and say that the other urls were promoted. :)
Am I the only one who sees the irony in Moz’s rankings being affected?
I hear you! They just revamped their blog and made it mobile-friendly and I’m sure the rest of the site is not far behind. It’s a large and complex site, so I know it’s not an easy transition. But again, I hear what you are saying. :)
I saw 5% drop in mobile traffic after update. (although desktop traffic also dropped by 2%) But not sure if it truly because of update or regular. because in tickets niche events come and go. which also have +ve or -ve impacts on traffic.
Hi Abdul. That’s a great point. You need to identify the rankings drop and then isolate mobile traffic from Google organic to view the actual impact. Also, I’ve been tracking the update heavily since 4/21 and saw absolutely no changes at all in the smartphone rankings until noon yesterday. That’s across sites, categories, countries, etc. It’s important to note, since websites obviously can’t see any traffic impact if the smartphone rankings haven’t changed yet! :)
I’ll be checking again this morning to see if there was any additional movement. Google said it can take up to a week (or more) to fully roll out, and it does seem to be rolling out slowly.
One thing that stood out for me in the ‘With or Without You’ search query; Here in the UK, Vagalume.com.br currently occupies 9th and 10th position, which doesn’t make sense just because they are mobile friendly. If anything, it is less relevant as one of the listing contain lyrics translated in Portuguese which is not exactly high quality results. I’d rather visit atU2.com instead (9th desktop, 25th mobile) to give me the result I want. Granted it’s not mobile friendly but there needs to be a balance between mobile-friendly and quality content.
Hopefully over time, Google will notice that sites which are mobile-friendly does not necessarily mean they provide the best experience for the users.
Great point Ahmed. I expect to see a lot of tweaks with this algorithm update. Google absolutely wants to make sure users are happy. That’s the core reason for implementing the update in the first place.
And you’re right about atu2. It’s a great site with excellent information. I’m eager to see how widespread the smartphone rankings changes are for the domain and the impact on traffic. Time will tell.
I’m not a regular visitor to atu2 but I first heard about it on Search Engine Land http://searchengineland.com/mobilegeddon-me-my-20-year-old-website-is-about-to-get-zapped-by-googles-mobile-friendly-update-219350 in which @MattMcGee described his problem about launching his almost-20 year old site, yet it’s going to lose mobile visibility.
It’s a bit of a dilemma really as it is a trusted and relevant site. But you’re right, only time will tell.
Seeing the exact same type of stuff here. Glad you are putting this together.
Hey, great to hear you are seeing the same thing. I plan to add some more examples soon, so definitely check back. Thanks Patrick.
Around May 1st or so, many webmasters complained their traffic lost a lot and many guessed there was a google panda while google denied. So now, is that affected by the mobile friendly algorithm?? Our site is surely affected and now confirmed it is mobile, any other webmasters have the same conclusion?
That was Phantom 2, which I analyzed heavily. You should read my post about it, which went live on Monday. http://www.hmtweb.com/marketing-blog/phantom2-google-update-april-may-2015/