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Website Not Mobile Friendly? Now It’ll Cost You.
The Sprocket Report
If you have put off updating your website to make it mobile-friendly, the day of reckoning is at hand. By April 21, Google will start penalizing websites that have not been optimized for mobile devices, making your online marketing that much tougher. You simply MUST update your site.
Some folks think that if they can already see their website on a mobile phone, that’s good enough. But it’s not. Only a few days ago, we faced the frustration of pinching and swiping a tiny, un-optimized website in search of their phone number – only to discover it was a graphic image that we had to WRITE DOWN so we could type it back into the phone to make the call. We were NOT happy customers and no one wants unhappy customers.
Google doesn’t want unhappy customers either, so on April 21 they will start giving precedence to mobile-friendly websites in search results. If you thought getting to Number One on Google was tough before, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Here is their official statement:
“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.”
And don’t think your customer base isn’t using mobile. Technology doesn’t come cheap, but everybody needs a phone. So increasingly, the average Joe is choosing to buy the latest mobile device rather than a desktop computer. In fact, the mobile vs. desktop race has been neck and neck for some time now, with mobile pulling ahead last November.
So what are the criteria to be considered mobile-friendly by the GoogleBot? Here are the basics:
- No use of software such as Flash that doesn’t work well on mobile devices.
- Text that is readable without having to zoom into the page.
- Pages that rearrange to fit the screen so they can be read without sideways scrolling.
- Links placed far enough apart to be easily tapped.
Because there have been several solutions to the mobile problem, folks are understandably hazy on whether their website is mobile or not. Some businesses built downloadable apps rather than update their websites. Others created separate mobile websites in addition to their current desktop versions. We recently had clients who thought they paid for an app but were in fact given a separate mobile website that required typical site maintenance. One way you can test how Google views your specific website is to use their test tool.
It’s time to make the switch. Contact us today and we’ll take a look at what you currently have and the options available to you. We’re always happy to help you make the most of your online marketing.
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Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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