I see that Google have announced that, from 21st April, they "will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal". In other words, if you are doing a Google search from a mobile device, the results will tend to favour sites that are themselves mobile-friendly. (Source)
I am surprised that this hasn't always been the case. Given that Google has been pushing the case for mobile-friendly design for several years now, you would think they would know that if you are using a tablet or phone for your search, you would want the search to find sites that work well on a phone or a tablet.
That apart, this is good news for me, having recently put a bit of effort into ensuring that all of my sites are mobile-friendly. It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, there is in my rankings.
By the way, I dislike the term "mobile-friendly". What matters is whether the site is "friendly" to various screen sizes and other physical factors. Whether the device is "mobile", (that is, easily portable) is irrelevant.
Mike
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