Mobile Search – Is Your Site Ready?

Last month, Google implemented what some have labeled “Mobilegeddon.” It’s a major change to the Google algorithm that affects the way your page is ranked based on your website’s design, not just its content. Why the sudden shift? Mobile search has grown 60% in the past year. In response to this growth, Google is giving an SEO boost to sites that are mobile-friendly.

 

To make a long story short:

Responsive design = good

Old-school desktop only design = bad

 

Why this matters

Your customers are using their smartphones to search, and Google wants to provide them with the best results possible. If visitors to your site don’t get a great user experience on their desktop, tablet, and mobile phone, Google is going to stop providing that website as a top-ranked search result.

 

This change is huge. It means that you could potentially lose ranking to your competitors. And that means you could lose leads – if your leads can’t find you, they can’t become loyal customers.

 

How to check

Google has created a handy Mobile-Friendly Test page. Enter the URL for your site to see the page as Google sees it. If your site is mobile-friendly, you get a little message from Google:

mobile-friendly-message

If not, they’re not shy about letting you know that you’ve got some room for improvement.

not-mobile-friendly

 

How to fix it

Your site must be mobile-friendly – it’s not an option at this stage of the game. You could undergo an entire site redesign, or you could shift to a responsive format, depending on the architecture of your current site.

CEA Marketing can make your site responsive to counteract any negative effects of the algorithm change. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, give us a call. Our team of web developers will work with you to devise a plan to get you moved over to a responsive format, so you’ll be back in Google’s good graces in no time!

Contact us today to get your site on track!