Google's new mobile ranking signal won't go into effect April 21, but it's causing many Web professionals to panic.
While there's no doubt that there will be shifts in the mobile results (and the traditional desktop results) the rollout likely won't be as dramatic as many seem to be expecting. For instance, those whose sites appear in Google News today won't be impacted immediately (e.g. on April 21) - but they may in the (near) future.
In a recent Google News Webmaster Hangout, Stacie Chan from Google News indicated Google does not have plans to use the mobile ranking signal initially, but it is something they are considering.
"As of now, Google News is not committed to making that change just yet. We're always exploring because we think its awesome that sites are trying to be more mobile friendly. Myself personally as a user, I love that. And Google News is very well aware that Search is doing that and kudos to you guys, that's great. So we're definitely exploring that option as well but we don't have a set timeline or anything like that, or whether or not we will even implement that into our product as well."
