You’re on-the-go and you need to look something up online but only have your mobile device at hand. You conduct a quick Google search, find the perfect search result and wait for the website to load. Now imagine your disappointment when the website finally loads and the text is so tiny you need a magnifying glass to read it. On top of that, you can’t even navigate the website without pinching and zooming because the links too are microscopic! Does this sound familiar?
We have all been faced with a non-mobile-friendly website before and it is anything but productive. So how do you think your customers feel when they have this same experience with your business website? The answer: not too happy.
Google understands that more and more people are accessing the web from their smart phones. In order to provide the best results, Google has cracked down on how non-mobile-friendly websites are treated in search results. Yesterday, May 12, 2016, Google boosted their mobile-friendly algorithm to further penalize non-mobile-friendly websites.
What is Google’s Mobile-Friendly Algorithm?
On April 21, 2015, Google released their mobile-friendly algorithm aimed at making all sites on the web mobile-friendly. With this update, Google placed more emphasis on mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. Mobile-friendly websites include mobile websites, responsive designed websites and adaptive designed websites. Those websites that were not mobile-friendly when the algorithm rolled out likely dropped rank in Google’s mobile search results.
Why did Google Boost this Algorithm?
It has been just over one year since the algorithm rolled out and Google has decided to up the ante. In March Google made this announcement, further encouraging website owners to go responsive (Search Engine Land). With this boost, Google has increased the effect of the mobile-friendly ranking signal.
What Should I do Now?
If your website is not currently mobile-friendly, we recommend monitoring your website statistics for any sudden drops in traffic. You will want to start considering taking it mobile as soon as possible. Here are a few options for going mobile-friendly:
- Full Website Redesign: If you are planning on redesigning soon anyway, you might as well do the full redesign and go responsive.
- Retrofit Your Current Site to Responsive: If you aren’t going to be ready for a site redesign in the next year, you should still retrofit your site to be responsive for the time being.
- Build a Mobile Site: While this is no longer the standard, it is still a viable option.
If you need assistance with making your website mobile-friendly, contact Informatics.
