What if I told you that by not having a mobile-friendly website, Google would lower your site’s SEO ranking?
What if Google told you that not offering consumers a mobile-friendly version of your website would result in a demotion within their search rankings? Well, if you haven’t heard yet…Google just did that very thing. That’s right…Google is putting mobile users first.
Google wants its index and results to represent the majority of their users — who are mobile searchers.
Just over a year ago, Google announced a major change to the way its search index will rank sites: it will go mobile-first. As the company explained at the time, Google’s algorithms will primarily use the mobile version of a website’s content to rank its pages, to understand structured data, and to show snippets from the site in its search results.
Google has rolled out the new full time mobile-first index. This means Google will now create and rank its search results listings based on the “mobile version” of content, even for listings that are shown to desktop users.
AND…with Google accounting for 96% of the mobile searches online, the goal to change to a mobile-first index has to do with how people access the web today – that is, they do so on their mobile devices, like the many different sized smartphones and tablet devices. In fact, the company said last November that “most people” today are searching Google from mobile.
Google will look at the current version of a website’s content in order to determine how it should be ranked and its relevance to the user. If it does not see a mobile version of your site or it’s content it will show other “Mobile Friendly” websites.
So if you have an old website and you offer a poor mobile experience for web searchers…your website is going to not be shown to mobile users! It is that simple!
All I have to say is this…DON’T BLAME GOOGLE FOR YOUR REFUSAL TO KEEP UP WITH TECHNOLOGY AND THE CHANGING TIMES!!!!
Google noted that a mobile-first index means that webmasters will see “significantly increased” crawling by its Smartphone Googlebot. It also means the snippets in the results and the content on the Google cache pages, will be from the mobile version of the pages, not desktop pages.
Pages that already take advantage of responsive web design / mobile friendly design and implement dynamic serving don’t usually have to do anything to be ready, Google added.
So as a business owner you have a choice to make…either, upgrade your website/business to be mobile friendly and do not lose your spot in the mobile search results or you will not be shown in the mobile search results at all.
Sounds like an easy business decision to me!
I have already tried out the new Google Mobile First Index by testing a local bar/restaurant that offers pizza and a full menu of food delivery. They have an old “non mobile friendly” website. (Their website is about 8-10 years old)
To start my test I added their “Website URL” to the Google Mobile Friendly Website Tester and Clicked “RUN TEST”… after the site was run through the tester it was shown to be Not Mobile Friendly.
So…according to the new search results (if this business has a mobile friendly website), if I do a search for “pizza delivery near my location” this business should come up in the nearby search results, right? However, since it is not a mobile friendly site, google will not show it in the search results.
RESULTS: The site does not show in the search results anymore. It does not show as a text link to their website or as a mobile listing with an image and link to their mobile site. It is gone!
Not only is their site out of the mobile search results, it is for the most part “Out Of Business” online. No search traffic equals no sales and no new business!
As a website owner with an old and outdated website it is no longer “an option” to have a mobile friendly website in 2018 it is a REQUIREMENT!
These new developments from Google try to encourage business owners to become “mobile-friendly” because when it comes down to it…That is what consumers want!
If you’re confused and not sure where to start….Start here! >>> Go test your website and if your website comes back as “Not Mobile Friendly” it is time for you to contact us here at TH Web Consulting or you can fill out our online “web design & development questionnaire” the TH Web team would be happy to offer you a Free Consultation for your business.
Our consultation offers a comprehensive review of your current business, your competition and we’ll provide a roadmap of ideas and recommendations on upgrading your old and outdated website to a new mobile friendly version.
