As of the 21 April 2015 Google released an algorithm update (which people are dubbing ‘Mobilegeddon‘) that allows the search engine to favour sites that are “mobile-friendly.” What this means is that if your site isn’t optimized/responsive for mobile users, it is likely to fall down in search rankings and get less traffic when people use their mobile devices, which in turn could mean a loss of business.
This update affects all sites but it will not affect results from desktop searches.
A site that is mobile-friendly is fast loading with clear readable text, correct sizes for content and photos. Having a site that is mobile-friendly makes a site so much easier, because all the content fits nicely and neatly on the users’ devices and they don’t have to scroll sideways for them to read the content.
A Google representative said, “As people increasingly search on their mobile devices, we want to make sure they can find content that’s not only relevant and timely, but also easy to read and interact with on smaller mobile screens.”
This update from Google shows that it is no longer acceptable for a website not to be responsive.
So is your website mobile friendly?
If you are worried or unsure about your website? Google has also released in its developer section documentation and guides about the mobile friendly websites.
They also released a mobile friendly test tool that allows you to test if your site is mobile friendly.
So go ahead and test your site – https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/.
Don’t think you are the only one
Don’t worry to much if your site doesn’t pass the test. Many sites owned by the European Union, the BBC and Wikipedia failed Google’s Mobile Friendly Test.
The fact is many large companies sites aren’t mobile friendly and most small businesses are too busy to contend with another website project.
A online Internet marketing firm Portent tested 25,000 sites rated as ‘top sites’ by the Majestic Million and Alexa, found that a majority of the Web’s top sites actually aren’t mobile friendly.
Here are their results:
If your site didn’t pass, get in touch with us and we can help work on any issues that are holding you back from passing the Mobile test.
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Image-source-https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/get-started/why
