On your commute, your lunch break, in the early evening hours before turning in and doing it all again the next day, we are increasingly relying on our mobile devices over desktop and laptop computers to keep us connected to the World Wide Web and to each other. It’s those mobile devices that are creating consternation for the unprepared marketing departments of the world this week.
Google, recognizing the ubiquity of mobile phones and tablets, is rolling out a new algorithm on Tuesday, April 21 that addresses the staggering increase in the consumer use of these devices. In just the previous four years, as detailed by comScore Media Metrix Multiplatform & Mobile Metrix, US, Dec. 2014, smartphone usage has increased 394% while tablet usage has seen a 1,721% increase in the same time frame. These figures represent, quite literally, billions of search engine results pages that are being viewed on mobile devices. And Google wants to reward all of those searchers with the best user experience possible. This is why “mobile-friendliness” will now be a significant factor in determining the search engine ranking for your company.
If your company has been caught unawares by this latest change to Google’s ranking algorithm, you are likely going to suffer a collapse in your moblile search rank and, by extension, a collapse in your revenues. This is because it doesn’t matter which industry your company serves, mobile search makes up approximately 30% of all site traffic. To better understand how close you and your company are to this coming cliff, Google has established a tool for you to test the mobile friendliness for your site. Aside from simply testing your homepage, put the url’s of some of your landing pages into the tool to get a better rounded idea of how mobile-friendly your site currently is. It takes between 10 and 40 seconds per page. Go do it now. We’ll wait for you.
Back? Ok, if the Google tool announced, “Awesome! This page is mobile friendly”, you should pat yourself on the back and maybe brush off that proposal for a raise in your next sit down with your boss. However, if you were met with a bright red “Not mobile-friendly”, Tuesday is not likely to be a fun day in your office. But there is good news. The Google Mobile-Friendliness Tool is going to let you know where improvements will need to be made to bring your website into compliance. It is recommended that those improvements be made very much sooner rather than later. While you will be able to rebuild your search rank if you aren’t mobile-friendly by Tuesday, if you are able to fix something before your rank collapses, it’s far better than having to work to rebuild it later.
Though Google announced these changes in February of this year, the buzz has been growing over the past few weeks and much of that buzz is centered on those who are realizing they are unprepared for how search engine result pages will be ranked after Tuesday. One place that buzz is not finding itself is with each of the partners of Intellibright. Aside from optimizing websites, continually monitoring and testing SEM and SEO best practices, creating quality original content, and driving qualified online leads to our partners, it is our job to keep abreast of each change and tweak that could negatively affect your company’s search ranking.
While many this week are thinking the sky is falling, our partners know that with Intellibright their revenues are rising. Contact us to learn more today.
