Google says the number of websites that meet its mobile-friendly criteria has risen 4.7% in the last two months - but many big companies are still to implement mobile-friendly sites.
Google revealed the figure in its blog post announcing the launch of its mobile-friendly algorithm yesterday. It also said it hopes "to see even more [mobile-friendly websites] in the coming months".
Unfortunately, Google may have a little longer to wait until its ambitions to fruition - recent studies show that many well-known websites are lagging behind in the mobile usability race.
For instance, 46% of Fortune 500 companies and a quarter of top retailers didn't have websites with 'mobile-friendly' labels at the start of April, according to Merkle research quoted by The Wall Street Journal.
And a study by mobile marketing firm Somo revealed brands like Kellogs UK, Dyson, Nintendo, David Beckham and American Apparel had failed to implement mobile-friendly websites, as of last week.
Notably, the BBC launched a mobile-friendly, responsive version of its popular news site last month. However, a BBC spokesperson told us the timing of the launch was driven by UK election coverage, rather than any Google considerations.
Merkle research director Mark Ballard told The Wall Street Journal: "A lot of sites haven't still invested resources into a site that works well on mobile, and consumers using the mobile web have been frustrated by that," adding that "Google's change will probably pull the stragglers into the 21st century."
Internet Marketing News is brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in online PR and content marketing.
