Google to Start Giving Mobile-Friendly Sites Higher Search Rankings

First, mobile-friendly websites will receive a higher ranking in mobile search results from April 21, and second, more content from within apps will be visible in mobile search results for signed-in users, from Thursday.

"When it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps. As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, our algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns," noted company on its Webmaster Central blog.

The search giant noted that it is expanding use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, and with this coming into effect for mobile searches in all languages worldwide, it will certainly have a "significant impact" in Google Search results. The company had started displaying mobile friendly labels for websites in mobile search results back in November.

The second change, app indexing, has already been implemented this week. Google says mobile searches will now display more information from apps that have been indexed by the company to users who have the app installed, and are currently signed-in to Google. The search giant has also provided a guide for developers on how to ensure their apps get indexed.

(Also see: Google Chrome to Show Red Flags for Sites Containing Harmful Programs)

Last week, the company had added a new 'carousel' feature to Google Search on mobile, presenting recent articles, videos and more when searching for topics or websites. The feature is not yet available for all major topics or websites, and Google says that it will come "for more sites soon."