With as much of our digital lives conducted from mobile devices as they are, it’s been refreshing to see the emphasis that the companies connecting us with online resources have been placing on content that’s as useful as it can be for such mobile consumption. Google started marking mobile-optimized search results last year, and back in April we learned that the company would begin prioritizing such listings in searches originating on phones and tablets. Now Microsoft is jumping on board that same bandwagon, and talks today about its own efforts to do something very similar.
Like Google, Microsoft’s Bing search engine now notes which results are mobile-friendly sites. Microsoft doesn’t intend to stop there, and is about to institute its own algorithm change that will affect rankings for such sites.
The company is clear that it doesn’t want to penalize traditional desktop-oriented websites, especially if they contain the most relevant content for your search terms. Instead, mobile-friendly sites will be gently boosted in their rankings, a process Microsoft calls a “fine balance.”
Users should start seeing this change go live over the next few months. Or really, if Microsoft does its job right, you might not notice a thing – just that you’ll find yourself less frustrated tapping through to sites that are a pain to navigate on hand-held screens.