On Mobile-Friendly Sites and Google

Jun 4, 2015 / by Creative SixOneEight / In Uncategorized / Comments Off on On Mobile-Friendly Sites and Google

On April 21, 2015, Google started releasing new mobile-friendly ranking algorithms that will rank all websites shown on Google results based on the Google Mobile Friendliness. This update is very important and you should consider it seriously. Everyone should make their site mobile friendly because about 60% of search traffic now comes from mobile devices.

Statistics show that more people are going “mobile only” – either because they never had a desktop or because they won’t replace their existing desktop, or because nowadays people browse for sites on opportunity; they see an advertisement or remember that wanted to check on something and they browse when they are on the move.

In plain English, this means that the world’s largest search engine will officially ‘prefer’ mobile friendly websites to their non-responsive counterparts.

So, if your website is not mobile friendly, it will appear lower in search engine results than similar businesses who have updated their websites in a responsive way.

Why does Google thinks this is important? Based on usage statistics, Google wants to make their customers happy, and customers who are using their mobile devices to browse the internet will be happier if the websites it presents to them are easy to read on their chosen device.

Is my website ready for this?

If you already own a mobile-friendly website, you won’t have much to worry about. However, if your website is not ready for mobile strategy for your online presence, get this done as soon as possible.

• Make sure the mobile version of your site is active and functional. Responsive designs are the best option as you will have all the same content for all types of devices and your users won’t miss anything and their experience won’t be interrupted.
• Google’s mobile bots can crawl your site. If Google can’t see it, it may as well not even be there.
• By all means, AVOID FLASH!!!! No Flash content might be easily viewed on all Mac devices such as iPad, iPhone or iPod. If your site has Flash content, get rid of it ASAP and use HTML5, jQuery and CSS3 instead, to have a true cross-platform site. Read this article concerning Flash content and Apple Devices.

Mobile Sites or Responsive Layout?

One can always have two versions of a website: the desktop version and the mobile version. That may require a landing page, a redirect, an additional script and more. All of these are not well received by Google algorithms and must be avoided.

Although Google takes the separate mobile URLs as New Google Algorithm Friendly Site, please consider the following:

• If you site has both versions, is okay. You might not need a new website as long as your current one passes the Google Mobile Friendly Test.
• If you currently have a desktop version and you want to convert your site to Mobile-Friendly, don’t waste your money on adding a new URL and paying for a complete new mobile site. Better invest in a Responsive Site. You will add content only once and your site will be visible in all devices, from desktop to mobile.

What’s Next?

Creative 618 develops responsive websites that are loved by Google.

Our framework supports all devices, and if you are looking to refresh your brand or to update your eCommerce website to make it responsive, Creative 618’s website experts will design and build a site that will look stunning, rank highly and work seamlessly on any platform.

This means your customers will enjoy a fantastic browsing experience, which is ultimately what Google wants their users to have.

Contact Us to see how Creative 618 can help you comply with the new Google rules for mobile friendly websites.

Resources

To answer more FAQs about this update, Google has published a list of FAQs, which can be viewed here FAQs about the April 21st mobile-friendly update.

To check if your current website complies with the new Google standards, go this site: Google Mobile Friendly Test.

Lastly, to learn more about the things to consider when developing a new mobile-friendly site, please read this article: What are the top three things I should know when building a site for mobile devices?

To learn more about why one should avoid Flash Websites, please read this article.