The days of the Mobile-Pocalypse are upon us. Google will be releasing an update to its algorithm on April 21st and it will likely have a big impact on your website’s search engine rankings. Ultimately, your web traffic could take a hit. Your site needs to be mobile-friendly by this date In order to ensure the new crawler reads your site. The goal of this update is to provide a better search experience for mobile users. Mobile searches account for 30% of total searches on the web, per enterprise platform SEO Clarity’s SMX West presentation at SMX West last month—and that number is steadily increasing.
A recent Google Webmaster Central post states that the upcoming algorithm update will be applied on a page-by-page basis. This means that Google will start prioritizing pages that are mobile-friendly over others, even if the pages are within the same site. However, it won’t penalize the site as a whole, according to Google engineer Gary Illyes. If you have an older website that’s not responsive yet, this change will most likely affect you. However, don’t panic! Look at this as the reason to upgrade your site and revamp your business strategies.
If you don’t know whether or not your website is mobile friendly, you can run your website through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. If you get a green message like the one below, you’re good to go. Time to relax!
However, if you get a red message, then it’s time to make a change. A majority of web platforms, or themes, are now responsive and ready for mobile. Here are some other things to consider: Mobile friendly sites will soon be the majority. If a customer can’t read your site when he or she needs to, they may move on to another vendor. There is too many valuable resources out there to be behind in today’s technologically advanced world.
If you are managing your website by yourself and find that your site is not mobile friendly, you still have time to fix this. If you don’t have a Google Webmasters account by now, sign up for one here. This resource will actually identify specifically what issues are hurting you and allows you to click on the usability errors on each page to see what needs to be resolved.
Your website is the first impression potential clients get of your business so it’s important that it be an extension of yourself. If potential clients can’t read it on the go, they’ll move onto the next listing. You should be checking on it as regularly as you check Facebook or your email. Being proactive is key to running a successful business and maintaining a highly optimized website!
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