Does your website meet Mobile Friendly Standards set by Google?
Websites which are not mobile friendly or are not following Google’s Mobile Friendliness guidelines will lose their search ranking positions shown on mobile devices. Having a mobile friendly website means a lot more than just having a responsive theme. It considers and weighs other factors as well.
These are facts cited directly from Google Team regarding the mobile search update:
“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. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”
As we all know, during times of change there is a possible loss but there is also an opportunity to gain search advantage before the algorithm hits. According to this post from Moz regarding the impact of this mobile friendly update, representatives from Google said that the impact of the update scheduled for the 21st of April will be bigger than the Penguin and Panda update by Google.
How will I know if my website is Mobile Friendly?
There are many steps and factors that should be considered to become completely mobile friendly. Especially if you are starting from scratch. However, if you already have a website, then you can do a quick test in the following link using the Google Mobile Friendliness Tool. The analysis of the tool will clearly show if your website is Mobile friendly or not. It will always list the steps to follow moving forward and if your website is not user friendly. The interesting point to note is this friendliness test tool does the test on a page level not on site level. That means some pages on your website may be mobile friendly but it may not necessarily include the whole website. Always consult with your digital agency or web development team to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile friendliness.
What are other opportunities or things to consider?
As mentioned by Google in their blog post about the update, “we will begin to use information from indexed apps as a factor in ranking for signed-in users who have the app installed”. So having a mobile app to support your business or your services will also benefit from the update. It has become quite evident that Google is changing its mobile search algorithm to include mobile apps in search results.
The road ahead:
Investing in a mobile friendly website is a good start. Developers at Google have prepared a great Mobile friendly Website guide with complete information about how you can have your website Mobile Friendly as well as your Mobile SEO optimized. If you have an old website and are willing to start from scratch then this is the best method to consider. Or alternatively you may want to consider getting in touch with us for a detailed understanding and advice on the necessary steps to take moving forward. It may also be worth considering investing in Apps for android, apple and windows mobile and tablet devices. According to M-commerce statistics from ACMA more than 3.4 million Australians used smartphone for mobile commerce. So it is a good business decision to have an app that will make the customer experience more enriching.
At Eightball Media we have more than 8 years experience in developing apps so you may want to book for a free consultation to know more about us and how we can help.
From marketing perspective traditional media such as advertising on TV, Print and Radio involves spending a lot of money on something where you can’t practically and efficiently measure your performance. Today, it is more sensible, affordable and measureable to invest your time on your website, search marketing and in mobile device optimization. If you have not considered smartphones as a lucrative platform for business then you might want to spend few minutes to reading Google Playbook, which is an executive’s guide to the potentials, opportunities and guide to making it big on mobile.
All the best for your future mobile endevours! For more information you can always contact the team at Eightball Media.
Email [email protected] or just ring us at 07 3122 9888.
