Google has been renowned for quite sometime because of its stringent algorithm updates. And, this time Google is back again with one more algorithm – Mobile Friendly.

With the launch of Google’s new algorithm, it plans to provide a boost in the rankings of those sites which are only mobile friendly. While Google with almost 67% market-share has officially made it clear that Responsive design pattern is most preferred by Googlebots, let’s understand how Responsive Websites will make all the difference on the SERPs.

Unlike scalable and fixed width layouts, Responsive web design (RWD) is an approach to web design that ensures the website renders correctly across the viewing environments (devices) with the use of fluid grids, images and CSS3 media queries. The purpose of developing responsive is easy reading and minimum re-sizing, panning, and scrolling.

And, why is it important to have a Responsive website in 2015? Some of the stats below explain:

  • Exploding mobile usage – 80% or more people use smartphones for internet searches. There are more than 5 billion global mobile subscribers.
  • According to Google’s Think Insights on Mobile, if a user lands on your mobile website and is frustrated or doesn’t see what they are looking for, there’s a 61% chance they will leave immediately and go to another website (most likely a competitor). It’s also said that if they have a positive experience with your mobile website a user is 67% more likely to buy a product or use a service.

Apart from the stats above, a survey from Akamai echoes the need of RWD. According to survey, out of the top sites almost 81% of websites are not responsive. With so many websites that are still not Responsive, Google’s new update will surely turn out to be a watchdog moving further.

How would the new mobile friendly algorithm outsmart websites?

  • Google’s mobile ranking algorithm will officially include mobile-friendly usability factors and app indexing. Making sure your site is mobile-friendly is now more important than ever.
  • More than penalty the update focuses on a ranking boost.

Want to know more about mobile friendly algorithm and safeguard your WordPress sites? WebbyMonks come up with a detailed infographic about the new algorithm, check out the Infographic today.