Bing’s Mobile Friendly Ranking Algorithm

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We have already announced that Google rolled out its own brand-new mobile friendly ranking algorithm, but now it is Bing’s time to do the same thing. Unlike Google, Bing has been straightforward about how the search engine giant is going to determine if a web page is mobile friendly. While there is no specific date when the launch of the mobile friendly algorithm will launch, Bing assures people that change is coming. While there was a great deal of anxiety about Google’s update, Bing hopes to alleviate some of these fears by gradually making changes.

Bing mobile friendly tag

In the last month, Bing has been using a Bing mobile friendly label during some Bing mobile searches. The label has gotten great feedback (according to Bing) and they will continue to use this label heavily in the future. This is going to show mobile users what type of website Bing considers to be mobile friendly instantly.

Bing’s mobile friendly algorithm

When compared to Google, the new algorithm that Bing uses appears to be quite similar. According to Bing, they want to give webmasters a chance to work on the mobile friendly ranking techniques from last year, the Bing mobile friendly label, and the latest news related to the algorithm.

One thing that is important to note is that mobile friendly is never going to trump relevancy. This means that even if you do not have a very mobile-friendly website, you will still rank highly if your page is relevant to the query. Bing said that this was because they wanted to strike a balance between user-friendly search results and relevancy.

Downplaying the importance of the update

Unlike Google, Bing has been very clear about wanting to downplay the impact that this update will have on search traffic. Whereas Google had a clear date for the update to go live, Bing does not. Whereas Google promised drastic results, Bing continues to hide how much of a potential impact that these updates will have. However, one thing that was made clear is that you can benefit from the ranking algorithm as soon as Bing crawls the new mobile friendly version of your page.

How does Bing determine if the page is mobile friendly?

There are several different ways that Google can determine if a page is mobile friendly. These include:

  • The clickability of the buttons and navigation of the website. Are the button spaced out enough? Are they easy to press with a finger? Is it designed with mobile users in mind?
  • Is it possible to read the content without scrolling from left to right or having to zoom in and out? It is not considered mobile friendly to have pinch and zoom desktop sites.
  • Whereas scrolling up and down is to be expected, but scrolling left to right is not.
  • When using a mobile device, does the content load normally? Flash is one example that Bing does not consider mobile compliant
  • Do not block JavaScript, CSS, or other external resources such as Bingbot mobile or Bingbot. Doing so will prevent the search giant from understanding the layout of your website.