Yes, there is another potential catastrophic event about to occur in the Googlesphere. But it is something you can take advantage of.
Google announced that on April 21st lack of a mobile-friendly website will hurt
Google announced back at the end of February that starting on April 21st “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.” The tech press have labeled this “Mobilegeddon” because websites that haven’t been made mobile-friendly will definitely be affected in a negative way in Google mobile search results.
April 21st is tomorrow.
Now, just to be clear, this Google update will only impact mobile search results, not laptop or even tablet search results.
But as mobile use has climbed close to and over 50% on some of our client websites, the lack of a mobile responsive website for a business will hurt their local search results.
Potential opportunity to get ahead if you have a mobile-friendly website
However, rather than looking at this in a negative way, it also presents a significant opportunity to get a head of slower competitors who are not so tech savvy.
The change Google is bringing means that potential clients searching for products or services on their phones will not be able to find businesses easily if they do not have a website that is phone-friendly. If a business is currently on first page of search results on Google’s mobile search, they will in all likelihood lose that first page advantage if they do not have a mobile responsive website. Those that do have mobile friendly sites will probably move up onto the first page reap the advantages of being there. So your website should be mobile friendly, shouldn’t it?
Okay, what is mobile responsive anyway?
What is a mobile responsive website, you ask?
Very simply, it is a website that automatically adjusts how it looks to the size of the screen that a viewer is using. This is so that the site not only looks good but is functional no matter the screen size.
It is very easy to tell if a website is responsive. Look at the TPM website, for example. Take the browser window and make it smaller and larger. Watch how the website display changes to suit the size of the window. If a website does that, it is responsive.
Screen-size responsiveness makes for a better user experience. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to navigate a full-sized website on a 4” or 5” screen.
Ultimately good for mobile users
So Google’s push to have websites responsive is a good one ultimately for users. But it can be hell for business owners who don’t really understand these issues. It also presents an opportunity for those that do, to jump ahead.
TPM has been on the mobile-friendly bandwagon since its beginning. We started installing customized mobile responsive WordPress sites using Studiopress’s search engine-friendly Genesis framework back when they first came out a few years ago. We then went on a program last year of upgrading our older client’s legacy websites to full responsiveness. With that completed, all our clients are prepared for “Mobilegeddon” and ready to be at the head of the pack.
We can help you out
You can be ready too, if you are not already. We can help you with that.
If you would like some more information or direction or a quote on making your site mobile-friendly, just call us at 888-788-5124 or use the handy contact form.
