Mobile Friendly Website
All week the talk of everyone in tech has been the push google is making to force businesses to update and change their website. In less than a week they are changing their SERP algorithm to evaluate whether or not you have a mobile friendly website or not. What they are saying is that if you are on the first page and your site is not mobile friendly you will lose this ranking to sites that are mobile friendly. Many opinions online are crying foul over this change and though they have valid points I frankly don’t agree with them.
In this ever changing world of Search Engine Optimization and lead generation, google is the end all be all key holder. They can do what they feel is right for their users. And considering they hold roughly two thirds of the world’s search market share they have the power to make or break a business. However this is not why I agree with this change.
Haven’t you ever used your phone to search for something and come across websites that are hard to read because the text is so small you have to pinch to zoom? Then when you do this you have to adjust the page so you can read the text you were looking for? This stinks when this happens, I hate it. Well Google feels this is a negative feeling indirectly placed on them as they provided the site as a solution to what you, the person conducting the search, was looking for.
Secondly and most significantly why I agree with their move to mobile friendly websites. Over the past several years the search data has told us that more and more people are utilizing smart phones and other mobile devices. Laptop market share has dropped largely in part to tablet sales and so have desktops. Well now over 51 percent of all searches are done on a mobile device and this number will continue to grow. So I ask you, if not now when? When does this change take place? And the resounding answer from the all-powerful and knowing man behind the curtain, otherwise known as Google, is now! So the solution is to quickly find a web developer that can rush to create a good responsive website that represents your brand well and set him to the task of rebuilding your entire website. Oh and some very important side notes, make sure they understand the ramifications of changing the URL’s of your site. If they don’t you may drop off the first page regardless of what device the user was looking for you on in the first place.
We at Black Box Consulting has long recognized mobile as a key factor when building websites and utilize responsive layouts in our web design process.
We can help you be mobile ready call for a Free Evaluation Today! (602)-266-0042