Google is going teacher on us and getting stricter by the day. Their latest ruler-whacking move? The search giant is set to dim the lights on non-mobile-friendly websites.
Google – like everyone with half a brain in the online marketing world – understands that more and more people are accessing the beautiful world of the internet from their smart phones. We’ve all seen the stats (according to Google, 48% of mobile internet users start in search), not to mention witnessed it in real life (heads buried in phones everywhere you go). We all know that mobile is the way of the future when it comes to search (and has been for some time: according to comScore, mobile internet access surpassed desktop access in 2014.) So why then are so many websites still loading on mobile devices with teeny tiny text, microscopic links and images not optimized for mobile? (Pinching and zooming sound familiar? Urgh!)
Well, if yours is one of those websites, best you do something about it and hop to it. Because Google is going to punish you.
In order to provide the best results for users, Google has been cracking down on how non-mobile-friendly websites are treated in search results for some time now. In April 2015, Google Search expanded its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, a change which affected mobile searches in all languages worldwide and which had significant impact in Google Search results. Then in May this year (2016) Google boosted their mobile-friendly algorithm to increase the effect of the mobile-friendly ranking signal and even further penalize non-mobile-friendly websites.
Here’s what this means for you:
- Step 1: Make your website mobile friendly and responsive.
- Step 2: See Step 1.
Seriously though, first, use Google’s handy tool to check if your site is mobile friendly. Find it here. It is? Well done. As you were.
It isn’t? See Steps 1 and 2 above. Then head on over to Google’s Best Practices Guidelines to “Make sure your site’s ready for mobile-friendly Google search results”. Better yet, give us a shout. We know what to do, how to do it, and can get your site mobile-friendly and out of the naughty corner fast!