Due to recent search engine changes, the existence of a mobile optimized website has just become crucial to business success. As a result of the fact that the buying public now uses their mobile devices more than ever to search the Internet, Google has not only taken notice, they are making significant, landmark changes in the way your business will be ranked. Get ready! Beginning April 21st Google will implement new algorithm updates that will improve the mobile search experience by boosting the ranking of mobile optimized websites. Once this change is implemented, any website that Google recognizes as “Mobile-Friendly” will automatically have their ranking boosted in mobile search results. If your business already has a mobile optimized website, that’s excellent, you are ahead of the game. However, if your website is not mobile-optimized, and you don’t put one into service before April 21st, it will have a serious detrimental effect on your ranking, dropping your business name significantly in search results.
A contributor from Forbes.com, Jayson DeMers quoted Zineb Ait Bahajji, a member of Google’s Webmaster Trends team who stated, “the new mobile-friendly algorithm change will have more of an impact on search rankings than either Panda or Penguin.” Having this new algorithm labeled as surpassing both the Panda and Penguin updates accentuates the fact that mobile search is in high demand and will continue to expand. Recent studies show that each year a growing number of consumers, over 80%, extensively research and compare prices and financing offers before making purchases, with more than 60% doing so on their mobile devices. Perhaps most importantly, 78% of those local-mobile searches result in offline purchases. What businesses need to realize is that this new update will completely change how they need to market themselves. The Internet is constantly evolving and the companies that fail to adapt to changes will soon find themselves losing critical sales to their competitors.
If you are not certain whether or not your website is mobile optimized, go to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool where you can answer that question. Simply type in your website’s URL and click analyze.
If your website is not mobile optimized, don’t panic, we can help. At R.C. Brayshaw & Company, our creative team is more than happy to help you in redesigning your website to become mobile optimized. Contact us today to learn more about SEO “best practices” and flawless design, making your website user friendly and ranking higher than your competition. Make sure to check out some of our recent website projects, and contact our web design and development team via email or phone at 603.456.3101 to learn more.