Remember when we thought April 21, 2015, was going to be doomsday? Ha! That was the date that Google released their major mobile algorithm update. Despite the knee-jerk reaction, the sky really wasn’t falling. Not even close. But it did change the way we navigate the internet at large. We do literally everything from our phones now, without even giving it a second thought, and that wouldn’t be the case without 2015’s “mobilegeddon.” So what changed? Call Smart WSI Marketing today to make sure you werent left behind.
One of the first differences to that particular update is that it was announced in advance. There was a lot of panic due to a comment made by Google’s Zineb Ait Bahajji at SMX in Munich earlier that year. He stated that the update would have a much greater impact than Panda or Penguin ever did. Should that statement have been construed as a cause for panic?
Part of the reason why the new update had a greater impact is because we are living in a time where mobile impacts everyone. The Panda and Penguin updates focused on sites with thin content and spammy elements. These were being used by a relatively small percentage of websites. Google’s mobile update was a totally different animal (sorry I couldn’t resist). The update actually helped and rewarded websites that were focused on becoming more mobile friendly.
The best way to summarize the details is to share this statement taken directly from Google’s announcement post:
"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."
Mobile Friendly Is Everything!
These days, we do everything on our phones. Why would we go to a desktop or laptop computer to search anything when we can just pull out the one in our pocket?
If your site is not mobile friendly, you’re missing out on a huge number of potential customers. Make sure you’re not shooting yourself in the foot by shying away from investing in a responsive web design. A responsive web design ensures that your website looks and functions the way it should no matter what device potential customers are using. It can bend, flex and shape-shift for desktop, tablet, Android, Apple, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that people aren’t leaving your site because it won’t load on the device they want to use it on!
Furthermore, if you have included mobile ads in your digital marketing budget, and don’t have a mobile friendly website, you’re wasting your money, and your potential customer’s time, therefore losing the chance the convert them to a customer. Clicking an ad in an app or mobile browser that leads to a website that does not work on mobile phone is just going to frustrate that person, and they will be unlikely to seek out your business to make a purchase or hire your services in the future.
Google actually took our obsession with the convenience of mobile a step further in 2020 with another mobile update that packed a pretty big punch. Last spring, Google rolled out mobile first indexing, meaning the mobile version of your website actually gets indexed before the desktop version. Imagine going back to say, 2014, and telling a web developer that?
Mobile-friendly is honestly a phrase that we barely use in the industry anymore. Why? Because everything is done on mobile, so of course things are designed to be mobile friendly. It’s no longer an after thought, or cutting-edge technology, it’s just the way things are done. To make sure that your business is keeping up, call Smart WSI Marketing today to discuss your overall digital marketing strategy.
Lynne is known for her strategic approach to marketing communications, technologies, and lead generation. She has a passion for education, keeping up with current marketing trends and practices, and helping clients keep ahead of their competition.
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