Yandex follows Google and Bing in rolling-out its Mobile-Friendly Algorithm update
Yandex, the largest Russian Search Engine recently rolled out a mobile-friendly algorithm update for Russian index with the codename Vladivostok. It derives its name from one of Russia’s largest cities, Vladivostok, located in the country’s far eastern region and home to Russia’s largest number of smartphone users.
According to the company’s spokesperson, the new update will be available only to the mobile users in Russia. In the next few months it will be rolled-out to its users in Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey and Kazakhstan.
In November, last year, Yandex started working on building a mobile-friendly algorithm by adding web pages to its search engine that supported the mobile-friendly content, with an aim to roll-out the update in early 2016.
Adding mobile-friendly pages to its algorithm doesn’t mean that it will cease to support those pages on its search engine that are not mobile-friendly. It only means that the mobile-friendly pages will rank higher in its searches.
Let’s see what Yandex’s spokesperson said about their latest mobile-friendly roll-out.
Vladivostok implementation doesn’t mean web pages not optimized for mobile experience will now disappear from search results, but their position on SERPS may differ depending on whether the user search[es] on their mobile or desktop. Although mobile compatibility is only one of 800 of ranking factors, the needs of our users is our top priority. We want to make sure it’s easy for them to interact with the webpages we deliver on any device.
But on comparing, Yandex’s definition of mobile-friendly isn’t any different from that of Google or Bing’s, as seen below
A mobile-friendly webpage is a webpage whose content (text, images, etc.) fits the small screen, features vertical, rather than horizontal, scrolling, and is accessible on mobile devices (Java applets, Flash and Silverlight plug-ins are not supported by most of mobile browsers). Flash Video media files, for instance, cannot appear in search results on the mobile version of Yandex’s video search and hosting service, Yandex. Video, which only supports the HTML5 format.
To check if your site complies with Yandex’s mobile-friendly updates or not, businesses can verify the same on Yandex’s webmaster page.
In terms of roll-out, Yandex is following in the footsteps of both Bing, who rolled-out out the mobile testing tool update last year and Google, who rolled-out its mobile tool update in 2014.
