Do you or your company depend on Google for traffic and business?
Is your website “mobile friendly”? How can you tell?
Google is once more playing big-brother and if you rely on traffic and business from your website, you can be a winner or a loser come April 21st 2015.
The Winners
If your site looks good on a phone or tablet, then your Google ranking will either stay the same or improve from April 21st
The Losers
If your site when viewed on a mobile phone or tablet has text too small to read or the links are too close together or the content is wider than screen then from April 21st 2015, your site will slide down the Google index and your page ranking, traffic and as a result your business from the website will suffer.
The Reason
Google has announced another algorithm update effective from April 21, 2015 – this time called “Mobile Friendly Algorithm.” The new algorithm will have great emphasize on sites that are “responsive”.
Google has officially made it clear that a “responsive design” is the preferred design pattern for Google bots and sites, and the rest will have to battle a lower ranking on the SERPs very soon.
Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices. …… Google
For more details about the update, please follow the link below:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.in/2015/02/finding-more-mobile-friendly-search.html
How do I know if my site is “mobile-friendly” (responsive) or not?
1) Click on the following link
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
2) Enter the URL of your website in the box
3) Click on the “Analyse” button
If your lucky you will see something like this
If your not you will see something like this
How do I make my site “mobile-friendly” or “responsive”
Unfortunately it's not as simple as flicking a switch on your website. The process requires programming changes to the design and the code that controls the size of fonts etc. (CSS). The original designers of your website would be the first persons to ask and get a quote from but just be prepared for a shock as traditional web design companies think this is a great opportunity to “milk” their clients and quotes of $5,000 or more are not uncommon just for simple sites.
If however, you do not want to make significant changes to your sites design or content but simply wish to make it “responsive” or “mobile-friendly” then let the IT Guys give you a quote. Simple sites can be easily converted for between $440 to $1,000.
:jk:
