Hom much does getting a mobile website improve the "mobile ranking"?

[yvonneq]

There's been speculation about Google totally not ranking sites that are not mobile, but as far as I can see many sites rank THE SAME on mobile devices as on regular stationary PCs/lap-tops. I had hoped for a radically improved ranking once a mobile site was built. Or is it just that it takes a TON of time for it to go through and then it gets better or is it like with regular sites that a new mobile site on a sub-domain is parked in some form of mobile-sand-box? Also, does putting a mobile site on a ranking domain, as subdomain help, e.g. m.testingsite.com instead of testingsite.mobi ? Thanks.

[acpi]

I've seen no evidence of preferential treatment to mobile specific or mobile ready sites for the clients I've built for. And that goes for building both responsive and mobile specific using subdomain or extension.

[wrttnwrd]

Google specifically states that having a single site that responds to mobile versus desktop (aka - 'responsive design') will help you just as much. Plus, you won't have to build two sites.

http://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-seo-official-15264.html