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Google Converting Non-Mobile Friendly Pages to Mobile Friendly for Searchers

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Google is testing a new feature that offers to convert a non mobile friendly page to a mobile friendly one for searchers when they land on a page that isn’t.

Kiran Nagula spotted the test.  When you view a webpage that isn’t mobile friendly, Google adds a closeable banner to the bottom of the page that asks the searcher if they would like to “Make page mobile-friendly.”

If you click the banner, Google will show a simplified version of the page that is mobile friendly.  Here is what that page looks like done mobile friendly Google-style.

It also adds a “Mobile-friendly view” banner to the top to remind users they are on the mobile-friendly version.

This was showing in Google Chrome, so it could be tied to Google Chrome users only.  I was not able to replicate it, so it does seem to be in the testing phase at this time.  But it would be a great permanent addition to make viewing of non-mobile-friendly websites easier for those on mobile devices.

Google has been pushing for sites to go mobile friendly, especially with their upcoming mobile first index, which will see Google rank pages based on their mobile version of the page instead of the desktop one.  But with over 50% of searches done on mobile, it shows Google is willing to test things that makes it easier for searchers to have a better user experience when they do want to go to a page that is mostly unusable on a mobile device.

Added: Google also tested this in 2016 in a limited test.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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