Google Makes “Mobile Friendly” an Absolute

Is Your Site Mobile Friendly?

Are you prepared for mobilegeddon? If your site is not mobile friendly then the answer is no. Google algorithms can make or break a business because they directly impact the position of your website in search results. If you are currently ranking for important keywords, a new algorithm can drop you off of the first page entirely, unless you are prepared for the pending changes.

In this case, Google will be releasing a new mobile algorithm on April 21st. If your website is not optimized for mobile search, you could see a significant drop in traffic, leading to a potential loss of revenue. This is simply not worth it. Simultaneously, if your competitors have a mobile friendly website, this can give them the edge to outrank you. Don’t let this happen by preparing accordingly.

Start by ensuring that your website is easy to read on all types of devices.
Pull it up on a desktop, smartphone, and tablet to see how it looks. If you site doesn’t adjust and looks identical on your computer and phone, your site is not mobile friendly and you should do an immediate overhaul. Ideally, we recommend that you have a responsive design website that changes based on the screen it is being viewed on. This makes it possible to read all of the content on your site and navigate from page to page without needing to increase the size of your site.

You also need to make sure that your website loads quickly.
This is one of the biggest complaints that users have and if it takes too long, you could be impacted by mobilegeddon. Some things that can cause a slow load time are videos that start playing automatically or animate sliders. We can evaluate your website and determine how to increase the load time then make the necessary changes. Additionally, if your website is using Flash, you need to ditch it in favor of HTML5. Flash does not load well on mobile websites and this could negatively impact your ranking.

The key to remember with a mobile friendly site is that it needs to be easy to read, use, and navigate.
There are over 1.5 billion mobile internet users globally. Therefore, mobile search can generate a significant amount of traffic to your business at the local and national level. These users are looking for instant information that answers their questions or meets their needs and they are more likely to make a purchasing decision quickly. This provides you with a unique opportunity to grow your business with a mobile friendly site. With that in mind, visit your site from your smartphone and try to read through it. If you notice that the font is too small – change it. Every button should be easy to touch without causing you to accidentally hit something else. Every page should be easy to access, etc. If you notice that a mobile user would have difficulty with any area of your website, you need to change it and try to do so before April 21st.

This is your unique opportunity to outrank the competition and we encourage you to take advantage of it.