A couple of weeks ago, Google began its quest on improving users experience via mobile searches, by outlining the “most mobile friendly” sites with some sort of carrot; if a carrot had a site next to it, it is determined a mobile friendly site.
On October 13, Google tried the opposite approach; instead of highlighting the mobile friendly sites, they put non-mobile friendly icons next to sites that were not responsive. These icons would encourage users not to click on a link because it was not mobile friendly.
Today, Google is going back to the carrot icon, but this time they are inserting a text in gray that reads: “mobile-friendly”; so sites that are responsive and offer users an easier experience when searching with their phones, will have this gray text right next to their link.
Below is a picture conducted by a Search Engine Land writer using his iPhone Six:
As you can see, next to the link it says mobile friendly; the site links, which are the different pages of the site, also have a text that says mobile friendly. Again, it just helps users choose the right link that will offer them quick answers with an easy to use navigation system so they get their results quickly.
Whether Google labels the mobile friendly sites with a text, or label the non-mobile sites with an unfriendly icon, their goal is to improve users’ experiences when conducting a search with their smart phones or tablets.
Since most mobile users will be using their phones and searching on the go, Google wants to do everything in their power to make their experience as efficient as possible; labeling friendly/unfriendly mobile sites will help with this goal.