Google’s Newest Mobile Experiment: “Non Mobile-Friendly Site” Icons in Search Results

Marie Westerhof

Marie Westerhof

Posted on November 04, 2014

As reported by SearchEngineWatch.com, Google has been testing a new “not mobile-friendly” icon in mobile search results designed to indicate whether a site is functional on mobile devices. The icon– a gray mobile phone with a slash through it displayed to the left of the website URL– complements Google’s experimentation with a “mobile-friendly” icon starting as far back as 2012. The search engine seems to be testing which approach works best with the smartphone interface.

Though it is unclear if either icon will become a permanent feature, mobile optimization is now more important than ever before. Most of our clients get 45-65% of their traffic from mobile devices, and this doesn’t even include email subscribers and social media followers who regularly receive updates from their phones. Whether or not Google officially changes mobile search, stay ahead of the curve by using mobile-responsive medical web design that adapts to the device and by channeling information to users via popular mobile channels.

Update (November 10, 2014) – Looks like Google is also experimenting with a text version.  We saw this one ourselves today:


Marie Westerhof

Marie Westerhof

Marie is the Director of Marketing at Medical Web Experts, and has over 10 years of experience in the development and execution of digital marketing campaigns for healthcare organizations. She also heads complex medical writing projects for healthcare networks, hospitals, large physician groups, and independent physician practices.

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