21 Apr Is Your Website Mobile Ready?
Most people that have a business website know that Google is currently the most powerful search engine on the planet and most people understand that Google changes its algorithms on a regular basis but then every so often they really like to shake things up, to keep everyone on their toes and providing the best experience for their website users.
We reported back in 2012 how important mobile would be in the future and it would seem with the latest algorithm update from Google, this prediction was right on the money.
But what does this mean for you?
The bottom line with this latest update is, if you don’t already have a mobile ready website then your website will drop dramatically in mobile search results which could lead to an immense reduction in site visits and revenue!
Those with mobile ready or responsive sites will naturally be bumped up the search list.
Ensuring you still have high quality, relevant and current content on your website which answers your users search queries will mean that your site could still rank well but you will almost 100% guarantee this if you also have a mobile ready or a responsive website because you’ll tick all of your users and Google’s boxes so to speak.
There are two major changes to how Google now performs its algorithm searches as of 21st April 2015.
These are:
1. Google will determine if a website is ‘mobile friendly’ and if it is they will automatically rank that website higher. They will roll this out across the globe in all languages over a short period of time effective from the 21st April. The change will directly affect mobile searches and will have a significant impact on the results they provide the user for that search. If the content is mobile and optimised it will be delivered to the user, if it’s not, it won’t.
Why not test your website now to check if the whole website is mobile friendly with this handy tool from Google: Mobile Friendly Website Test
2. Since late February Google has also been using information from ‘indexed’ apps to help them rank the app for those who have installed the app and are signed in. This means that if you have an app, your app content will be found more easily in user searches meaning that you’ll be ahead of the competition.
It is reported that over 60% of Google searches are now done via a mobile device and a lot of people are going mobile only which means that the desktop computer may one day become a thing of the past.
Just as the reluctance of retail businesses to get on the web saw the crash of many bricks and mortar shops fold here in the UK and across America, the same may be the case for those businesses not willing to move towards mobile. If you don’t give the people what they want, they will of course go looking for it somewhere else and if you’re not there on their mobile device then no doubt your competitors will be.
Google puts the user experience at the heart of everything it does which is why it’s managed thus far to grow so fast and corner the search market. They know the more someone visits their site and the longer someone stays on their site, the more chance there is to sell to them and because people spend hours on end on their mobile device anywhere and virtually every time of the day it would not be wise to ignore this technology shift towards mobile.
Here’s some tips to help you make your site mobile friendly:
– Ensure you have a mobile version of your website or a responsive design so it shows across all mobile devices (responsive is Google’s favourite!)
– Ensure your website is crawlable by the Google bots
– Make sure your whole website is ‘mobile friendly’ because just having your Home Page as mobile friendly won’t cut it
If your site isn’t yet mobile ready or responsive, even though Mobilegeddon started on the 21st April your website won’t be plunged into an alternate Google galaxy far, far away just yet. Having said that, we cannot stress enough how important a change this is and so we strongly advise that you act very soon to ensure your website is mobile ready.
Contact us today for a competitive quote on making your site responsive for mobile devices and capitalise on Google’s latest release because your competitors most definitely will.
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