Have you ever tapped on one of Google’s Search results on your cellphone only to find that the text was too small to read, the links were impossible to click on, and you had to scroll sideways just to read the content?  That happens because that website was not mobile-friendly and Google has finally done something about it!

Google’s mobile friendly update came out in April 21, 2015.  This update basically punishes all websites that aren’t responsive/mobile-friendly and rewards the website that are.  It’s Google first significant mobile-friendly ranking algorithm that is designed to boost the SEO rank of websites that are mobile-friendly and punish those that aren’t.  So if you were wondering why your web traffic has suddenly decreased recently you probably don’t have to look any further than Google’s Mobile-Friendly Update.  

Google has been promising this sort of update for years now due to the massive increase in mobile traffic and during March and April 2015, Google saw a nearly 5% spike in mobile traffic so Google finally decided to act.  Because of how big this update was many people have called this update Mobileggon but I personally feel this is just the beginning. According to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2015/05/15/can-your-business-survive-googles-mobile-geddon/) right now 90% of small business owners do not have a mobile friendly site while 60% of adults use their cell phone or tablet to do online research before making a purchase.

When Google displays your website to users and it shows up poorly on their cellphones and tablets you are acting against Google’s interests.  Google’s future relies on quality control so Google wants to give their user’s the best user-experience possible to make sure their users continue to use Google rather than the many other search engines available.  Here is what Google has to say on this matter, (http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/02/finding-more-mobile-friendly-search.html) “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.  This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results”.  

Because of the ever-increasing move to mobile devices you can believe Google will continue to push these updates until there is a major shift in the market.  Now, more than ever, as more and more internet users browse with their phones and tablets versus their laptops and desktops it becomes imperative, for Google and for you, to get your website mobile-friendly before your SEO rank takes a massive hit with the inevitable future updates that are to come.  

Further, web traffic from mobile devices are actually better than computers!  Think about this, if you are on-the-go, which the majority of mobile users are, and you need to go to a dentist which device do you think you would use your cellphone or computer?  People on computers generally have time to do research and aren’t in a rush to buy but this isn’t true with the on-the-go mobile user. I can also tell you from personal experience from doing online marketing for years that click through rates and conversion rates are usually much higher for cellphones than computers.  

A recent study ‘The “Mobile Fanatics” – How Mobile is Transforming Local Shopping’ (https://www.lsainsights.com/product/mobile-fanatics-how-mobile-transforming-local-shopping) was release by the Local Search Association and confirms Forbes citing 60% of US adults choose smartphones or tablets over their computers for buying products and services online.  Further, 70% of mobile users who viewed mobile ads made a purchase and 80% of them completed the transaction within 3 days. So if “Mobileggon” wasn’t reason enough to update your website you should do it purely from a marketing stand point.  

To see if your website is indeed mobile-friendly Google has provided their Mobile-Friendly Test Tool (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/).   Also remember just because your website shows up well on mobile devices doesn’t mean it is mobile-friendly/responsive.  Many web designers simply create two different versions of your website because it’s cheaper, one for mobile and one for computers, but according to Mobify Research and Development (http://resources.mobify.com/50-mobile-commerce-stats.html) no one screen size has more than 20% of the market share.   Even though you might have multiple versions of your website it still doesn’t make your website “responsive” so you will still be hit with Google’s Mobileggon algorithm update.  Watch this video for a full explanation (make video for this like this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=396joqfMHMI)

If you need help and want to get your website mobile friendly please feel free to contact me.  Consultations are always free, just provide some basic info and we can set up a time to meet.  

Growing a business is exciting and fun and I’d love to help you.

I wish you the best of luck,

Joshua

Google: “Not having a mobile optimized website is like closing your store one day each week,” Google.