As reported by SearchEngineWatch.com, Google has been testing a new “not mobile-friendly” icon in mobile search results designed to indicate whether a site is functional on mobile devices. The icon– a gray mobile phone with a slash through it displayed to the left of the website URL– complements Google’s experimentation with a “mobile-friendly” icon starting as far back as 2012. The search engine seems to be testing which approach works best with the smartphone interface.
Google’s icon for non-mobile-friendly sites is a bit hopeless. All 3 of these have mobile site. pic.twitter.com/gHGVgOsaVj
— Malcolm Coles (@malcolmcoles) October 11, 2014
Whilst shamelessly googling myself I briefly noticed the mobile-friendly icon Google have been playing around with: pic.twitter.com/MoaBck78fC
— James Bavington (@jamesbavington) October 27, 2014
Though it is unclear if either icon will become a permanent feature, mobile optimization is now more important than ever before. Most of our clients get 45-65% of their traffic from mobile devices, and this doesn’t even include email subscribers and social media followers who regularly receive updates from their phones. Whether or not Google officially changes mobile search, stay ahead of the curve by using mobile-responsive medical web design that adapts to the device and by channeling information to users via popular mobile channels.
Update (November 10, 2014) – Looks like Google is also experimenting with a text version. We saw this one ourselves today:
