Google has announced that from 21 April, it will incorporate a site’s mobile-friendliness into its ranking algorithm. In short, if your website is not mobile friendly then your ranking will be affected and you will not be ranked as highly as a competitor who does have a mobile friendly website.So what should you be doing about this?
- First of all check if your website is mobile friendly or not if you’re not sure. Google has created a checking tool which you can access here: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
- If your website is judged to be mobile-friendly then you’re home and dry! If not, you need to be investigating how to get this amended.
What does mobile-friendly mean?
The reason that Google is now placing an emphasis on this is because the percentage of people using mobile phones to access data has increased that they have to prioritise websites that employ the best experiences for users. Desktop versions of websites can be difficult to view on a mobile and can be a frustrating experience and users are likely to abandon a website and find another that is easier to navigate. Here is a graphic that demonstrates the difference from Google:
Often mobile sites strip out a lot of the unncessary content and prioritise larger fonts, clear navigation and obvious contact details.
My website is not mobile-friendly – what should I do?
Ideally, you should arrange to have the website re-developed so it is mobile friendly. If you are using WordPress as a basis on another cms system, then there may be theme options available and plugins that can turn a non-responsive website into a responsive one relatively swiftly and easily.
If you have a ‘static’ website that does not have a cms system behind it, it will probably need re-developing on some level and you could also take the opportunity to have it put into a cms system and/or the design freshened up at the same time.
If you’re not sure how to approach this then I would be happy to advise – you can give me a call or email me and I can provide you with some options and costs on how to ensure your website is mobile friendly for the future.
