Back in November of last year, Google issued a warning: if your website isn’t already mobile friendly, the time to do so is now. Well, Google has just issued a last call: you have until April 21st to transition to a mobile friendly site. Beginning on April 21st, mobile friendliness will be a ranking signal used by Google’s algorithm to judge your site’s position on its search engine. In other words, if your website is not mobile friendly, you will be at a competitive disadvantage and your internet presence will take a loss.
Is your website mobile friendly? If you’re not sure, Google provides an easy tool that will tell you whether your site meets relevant requirements: the Mobile-Friendly Test.
What Does Mobile Friendly Mean?
A mobile friendly website caters to web surfers who are using a device other than their desktop — cell phones, tablets, et cetera. This doesn’t mean you need two or more websites, one for each device. Today, we can take the same website and issue a set of instructions as to how the layout should be organized depending on the screen size of the viewer. If your site is mobile friendly, the way it looks will be different depending on whether you’re visiting on a desktop or on a cell phone, but they are both still the same website. This is what a mobile-friendly website looks like across different platforms:
Why is Having a Mobile Friendly Site Important?
The value of a mobile friendly website extends beyond meeting the standards imposed by Google’s ranking algorithm. What a mobile friendly website does is cut the amount of work the visitor has to commit to in order to extract the information she’s looking for. Why should you care about the amount of work your visitors have to do? If the person, when visiting your website, has to zoom out because the images are too large, or she has to scroll from side to side because the site is too wide for her screen, she’s going to leave and she’s going to find an alternative website.
Consider that over 35 percent of web users in the U.S. do so on a non-desktop device, and that this number is growing. Actually, worldwide, mobile search has outstripped desktop search. When put in this perspective, the importance of a mobile friendly website is clear. If your website is not mobile friendly, you are losing out on a significant chunk of web traffic.
If My Website Isn’t Mobile Friendly, Do I Need a New One?
If your car breaks down, do you need a new one? Not necessarily. Sometimes, you can simply fix what’s broken and leave it at that. Other times, you’re better off buying a new car. The same is true for websites. You can convert your existing website to a mobile friendly platform or you can simply go with a new website altogether. Which option is best for you depends on the specifics of your case.
Have a Question? Contact Your Consultant at Now Media Group
Going mobile friendly is no longer really an option, because the costs to not going mobile friendly are greater than those of making the transition. If your website is not mobile friendly and you have any questions regarding the transition, contact your consultant at Now Media Group. We are more than happy to assist you with any problems relating to your website and your internet marketing. Our number: 858-642-7409.
1 comment. Leave new