Google announced last month that an upcoming addition to their ranking algorithm will take into consideration whether your website is mobile friendly or not. Websites that are not mobile friendly will be penalized and that means that sites that are not mobile friendly will likely take a hit in Google’s search rankings. Google’s reasoning behind this addition of mobile-friendly design as a ranking signal is because “when it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps. Mobile usage is growing and that is why mobile-friendly website design is so important. Even if Google wasn’t taking this design element into a ranking factor, your site is likely to experience a higher bounce rate because of the large amount of smaller mobile devices that are being used at greater frequency.
Is Your Site Mobile Friendly?
If you are registered webmaster tools users, then you should have already received an alert letting you know if your website is not mobile friendly. The email alerts let you know what to fix regarding the mobile usability issues they have picked up; it includes mobile-friendly design tips and how to fix the mobile usability issues. If you haven’t received an email and you aren’t sure if your website is mobile –friendly, you can check for yourself with this tool Google created for the purpose of checking for mobile usability issues. You have until April 21, 2015 to get your site’s mobile usability in order. Act fast!
Mobile Usage
The statistics and reports have all shown that mobile usage overtook desktop usage on many levels in 2014. Essentially what that means is that if your site isn’t mobile friendly, it’s too late and you are losing sales, conversions, and visitors who can’t navigate your site on their smartphones.
If you require further information or have any specific questions, don’t hesitate to give a member of the GoPromotional team a call on 0800 0148 970 or simply email us today.
