Is your company’s website optimized for mobile? If it isn’t mobile-friendly, you may be out of luck when it comes to getting top ranking Google search results.
What does “mobile-friendly” mean? Let’s start with what it doesn’t mean. Have you ever looked up something up in Google on your smartphone or your tablet and gotten small text that you have to move side to side to read? That’s a site that’s NOT mobile-friendly. This is what you want to avoid. Because, as we’ve discussed before, mobile is overtaking desktop and laptop computers as the way most people use the internet. And starting April 21st, you won’t just be punished by an annoyed user clicking on a different site than yours – you’ll be punished by Google:
“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.”
Google has been moving toward giving better ranking to mobile-friendly sites for some time now. Back in November of 2014, Google started adding a “mobile-friendly” description to its search results. To be mobile-friendly, a site must:
- Avoid software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
- Use text that is readable without zooming
- Size content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
- Place links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
In addition to ranking mobile-friendly sites higher, Google is also rolling out some changes to how it handles apps. If your company has created an original app, Google will now let you index that app information, so it will give users the option to open your page within your own app.
Is all of this mobile-talk making your head spin? Give MediaMark Spotlight a call at 215-680-6917. Our Creative Pod team are experts at mobile web design, and can make sure your company is never left behind.
This post is part of our Digital Insights series. Be sure to join our mailing list or follow us on Facebook to never miss important digital marketing news.
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