MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google has announced that beginning April 21, mobile-friendly websites will be given more prominence in search results. The search-engine giant will be adjusting its algorithm to take into consideration both how a site functions on a mobile device and indexed data from mobile apps.

“When it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps,” read a recent post on Google’s Webmaster Central blog.

In the post, the company explained that the change was motivated by the increase in website traffic coming from mobile devices and mobile apps. The move, which Google said will have a "significant impact on search results, will expand the use of mobile friendliness as a factor in search ranking worldwide.

With the coming change, however, websites which are not properly optimized for mobile devices may lose ranking within search results or be usurped by websites which are. For companies that are either web-based or driven by web traffic, this could negatively affect business."

Google has rolled out what it calls the Mobile-Friendly Test, a new tool that allows website administrators to check whether their site is ready for the upcoming change. The company also included a link to a step-by-step guide to implement mobile app indexing.