Google Now Requires You To Have A Mobile Website
Is your website mobile-friendly? Because after today it should be or else you are going to see a drop in mobile search traffic to your website.
Google announced a while back that on April 21st, 2015 it would be changing its mobile search algorithms to favour websites that are mobile-friendly.
For those that don’t understand what I just said lets break it down:
Who cares what Google does?
You should. Google is the world's largest search engine. So big that a long time ago we gave up saying “search the Internet” and replaced it by making Google into a verb. Now we simply say “Google it”.
Google is also smart, very smart. It factors in many elements when it is serving up results, which together make up their algorithm. Elements like content, keywords, accessibility, longevity, speed and location all factor in. No one element can improve your PageRank alone. This is why SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in 2015 is not like it was in 2008. To truly do a good job with SEO it must address all of these elements on an ongoing basis.
Why does mobile matter?
If you hadn’t noticed everyone has a mobile device nowadays and they use that little device to search, all the time. Need something? Bored? Have a random question? We search for the answer.
Search queries from mobile devices (not including tablets) now averages 60% of all searches made. That number is huge and only increasing.
What is mobile-friendly?
Having your website mobile-friendly means meeting the following:
- Properly sized font on mobile devices (Removing the need for pinch-and-zoom),
- Adaptive screen size for mobile devices (Having your website look like it's meant for a mobile device),
- and having proper spacing between links (Such as having a mobile menu so no link is tapped accidentally).
You may have also heard of the term “responsive”. This term is used for websites that will adapt to any screen size (desktop, tablet, mobile, landscape or portrait) automatically. When the website is being built code is used that tells the website to display based on the dimensions of the screen size. This is the most popular way to get your website friendly and the easiest (and cheapest) for those building a new website.
Is my website mobile-friendly?
There are two simple ways to check if your website is mobile-friendly:
Grab your mobile phone, I’m sure it is right beside you or you are reading this on it. Go to the browser and search for your website or business. In the search results, if you see “Mobile-Friendly” by your website ten you are good to go.
The other way to is to use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Webmaster tool. Enter your website address or any website address, and Google will tell you if it passed the mobile-friendly test.
What if my website isn’t mobile-friendly?
The world won't end, that is the good news. You might see a drop in mobile search traffic to your website but if you act quickly you can repair that.
If your website isn’t mobile-friendly contact your website developer or myself here at With Media. Just talk to someone who knows websites and understands what would need to be done to your website to make it mobile-friendly because it might be easier than you think.
However be warned, if you website is older more work may need to be done to bring it up to date with today's standards.
More good news is that all websites that With Media builds and has built are mobile-friendly and ready for this change. No sweat. No worries.
Contact me and I’ll take a quick look at your website for free.
Other information
It should be noted that this change by Google will not affect those who are searching on desktop and laptop computers. Results will not change in those cases, however with 60% of searches being from mobile devices you want to make the change regardless.
Other resources to read: