Is your business going to take a nosedive on mobile searches?

While these changes in Google’s algorithm won’t affect searches performed on desktops or tablets with approximately 40% of normal web browsing being done on smartphones (not including apps) what kind of impact will this have on businesses whose websites are not mobile-friendly?

Impact

Potentially, a website could be less visible to 40% of web users if it is not built responsively for mobile. Google assures us that there are other factors that determine search engine positions stating: “While the mobile-friendly change is important, we still use a variety of signals to rank search results. The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” But the very fact that this algorithm has been introduced will have an impact and therefore cannot be ignored by companies who generate business via their website and use it for marketing purposes. Lead generation could possibly reduce as a result. Bad news.

How to tell if a website is mobile-friendly

Method 1: Perform a search on your smartphone and next to the results Google will tell you if the website is mobile friendly or not.

Method 2: Try this little online test – click the link, enter a website URL and let Google do the work. At the end of the analysis it’ll give you a result and suggest improvements or changes that need to be made.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

What to do next

If your website is mobile-friendly you don’t need to do anything. If it isn’t you’ll need to assess how your business may be impacted by potentially having a less visible website. If you are one of the 40% of businesses whose website miss the mark as regards mobile-friendliness it may well be time to address it and remedy it. If you would like to discuss these changes in more detail please do get in touch with me – I’d be happy to talk to you.