Whenever Google announces a new update to its infamous algorithm, the world of SEO goes insane. What will be changed? How will it affect my website’s ranking? Will my website’s links get through or will I be penalized? We read all the latest news, check and recheck our website’s current SEO, make sure all our links are going to legitimate websites. And then, when the algorithm finally arrives and our website ranking hasn’t been affected too much, all is right in the world. We survived another algorithm, huzzah!
This is what’s happening right now. If you keep an eye on marketing trends, you may have heard of the big changes coming to Google’s mobile algorithm. On April 21, Google will begin rolling out a mobile-friendly algorithm that will rank websites by their mobile sites. The algorithm will go through your website on a page-by-page basis and if that site rendering properly on mobile screens, then your site will be declared mobile friendly and your ranking will improve in mobile searches.
Currently, Google is already labeling websites if they are mobile friendly or not. If you search for your website on your phone right now, you may see a gray label marked “mobile friendly” next to your listing. But this doesn’t mean the stamp of approval will be there after April 21st.
What exactly does this mean to your ranking? When you search for a business on Google using your phone, the search results you receive are different than those you would see on a desktop search. In a mobile search, Google presents mobile-friendly websites ahead of non-mobile websites in the list of rankings, no matter what your SEO is like. With more and more people turning to their phones to search and shop, it’s essential these days to have a mobile website. And now that Google will be ranking websites based on mobile friendliness, it’s more important now than ever.
So how can you prepare for the upcoming change? There are tools out there that will check your website’s compatibility to mobile website. If your website has a responsive design, then you have nothing to really worry about. However, if your website needs a mobile version, give us a call. We know how to make your website look great on the small screen.