Ditch That Unfriendly Mobile Site or Get Buried in Search Results

Ditch That Unfriendly Mobile Site or Get Buried in Search Results

How Google’s new algorithm update will impact your website and your business.

Despite the forewarning, many enormously well-known companies are still scrambling to minimize the effects of Google’s mobile algorithm update, leaving small businesses with a huge advantage as long as they make haste and produce a mobile-friendly website.

With an increasing number of Google searches being performed on phones, the popular search engine giant changed its algorithms to take into account a website’s level of mobile-friendliness. In doing so, websites not optimized for mobile screens could get knocked down Google’s rankings.

Earlier this week Google clarified the requirements in order for a site to be considered mobile-friendly and experts say that the update, which was rolled out on April 22, could affect over 40 percent of Fortune 500 websites.

What are Google’s “mobile-friendly” requirements?

Because global web traffic from mobile devices is rapidly rising, and recent studies show that mobile visitors are more likely to revisit mobile-friendly sites, mobile usability is now significant for optimum search results. This means that search results for mobile users should lead to content that is usable in the following ways:

• A defined viewing area (or viewport) that adjusts to the device’s screen size.

• Content that flows in the viewport, so that users don’t have to scroll horizontally or pinch the screen in order to see the entire page.

• Fonts that scale for easier reading on small screens.

• Easy-to-touch elements (e.g., buttons) that are well-spaced from other touch elements.

• Visual design and motion driven by mobile-friendly technology.

What does a “mobile-friendly” website mean for small businesses?

• Small businesses are able to make changes to their websites much quicker and easier than larger companies due to a less complex infrastructure.

• With this update taking place, it is the ideal time for any business that doesn’t have a mobile-friendly website to evaluate their mobile strategy. 

• Websites that give users a good mobile experience are perfectly placed to benefit from the update and can stay ahead of their competitors.

The rapid move to mobile can no longer be ignored as it will impact businesses whether they are big or small. According to eMarketer, 

“the number of smartphone users worldwide will surpass 2 billion in 2016, and will come close to hitting that mark this year. In 2015, the firm said there will be over 1.91 billion smartphone users across the globe. And by 2018, over one-third of consumers worldwide will use smartphones.”

Statistics show just how much business and commerce are done via smartphones these days, so instead of it being a headache, this algorithm change should be seen as helping businesses concentrate on ways to realize potential growth in areas that, until now, they might otherwise ignored.

How do we make our website “mobile-friendly”?

Here are some initial steps businesses can take when looking to make their website mobile-friendly.

• The update only affects search rankings on mobile devices and applies to individual pages, so make sure your site pages are indexed as mobile friendly as quickly as possible.

• Test your site to see if it is already considered mobile-friendly by Google -- www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly. 

• Check the status of your entire site through Google’s Mobile Usability report in Webmaster Tools which identifies the pages on your website suffering from critical usability problems for mobile visitors.

• Once the above changes have been made, website owners can direct Google to crawl the site with its Fetch as Google function in order to expedite the process.

With 59% of all small business websites in the United States not mobile-compliant and where consumers change the way they interact and engage with businesses online, embracing change is the only way to ensure growth and success, whether prompted by Google or not.

Don’t want to see your business’s website buried in search results?

Let us show you how Efelle Creative can help get your mobile-friendly website design project off the ground, gain more user traffic and bring your business more revenue. With years of creative, technical and marketing expertise, our team can help you reach your marketing and design goals with options you probably didn’t even know existed. We offer services in Seattle, Redmond, Bellevue and Tacoma, Washington. Call us at 206.384.4909 or use our online contact form to arrange for a free web design consultation.