Google To Start Alerting Mobile Search Users To Flash-Heavy Sites
So if you Google a site that uses a lot of Flash and you’re on a device that doesn’t support Flash, you’ll see a result like the one pictured above, telling the user that they may be going to a site that doesn’t function properly on mobile.
It’s both a helpful note to users and a way for Google to remind developers to use HTML5, which works on both iOS and Android devices. After all, Google has a financial stake both in providing quality results and in providing a mobile operating system that consumers are happy with.
The switch to HTML5 has been a huge boon for mobile browsing. When smartphones first launched, many websites either would not display properly on these devices or were stripped down to mere text links. While most major sites have long since upgraded to be more mobile-friendly, there are still plenty of older sites that still refuse to play nice with phones and tablets.
To that end, Google is offering resources for webmasters who need to do some online renovation.
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.