Google has set a deadline of April 21, 2015, for an update in its algorithm which will check whether a website is mobile friendly or not. Mobile friendly websites which allow users to browse without having to zoom in and out can expect to get a boost in rankings. On the other hand, those websites which are not mobile friendly and offer a suboptimal user experience can expect to see a sharp drop. This update, dubbed as “Mobilegeddon”, will affect searches in all languages.
Google has opined recently that the effect of this update is expected to be greater than its Panda or Penguin updates. This news leaves a lot for the Webmasters worldwide to worry about. If their rankings drop due to this factor, it might take a long time for them to climb up the ladder.
The necessity of this update:
As per the scene estimates, over 50% of Google’s search traffic originates from mobile devices. This makes it natural for Google to put in a lot of efforts into providing these users a great user experience. Hence, it is introducing this test for mobile friendliness.
Mobile
Webmasters of non-compliant websites have an uphill task in hand to conform to these new guidelines before April 21, 2015. They can hire a professional
- Testing the website: Use two utilities available in Google Webmaster tools, Mobile-Friendly Test and Mobile Usability Report to test the mobile-friendliness of your website. Test whether every individual page meets the specifications and don’t stop after testing just the homepage.
- Make the website Mobile friendly: if the website fails the above-mentioned tests, then they can either create a separate mobile version of the website hosted on a subdomain (e.g. m.yourdomain.com) or get the website transported to a mobile-friendly framework. Responsive designs work very well on both desktops and mobile.
- Check Canonicalization: if there are two versions of the website, then proper redirects have to be built from the mobile page to the desktop page, whose contents are similar. This will help to avoid duplication of content.
- Page speed: professional
Seo services providers also need to check the speed at which the pages load. All the pages of the mobile site should be optimized for achieving faster loading time. - Link building: Webmasters opting for separate mobile websites should remember that this can give rise to link building problems. It is always easier to build links for one website rather than two.
Hiring a Professional
Prepare for it now, or else it will cost you!
It is high time you prepare for Mobilegeddon, with only a few days left. Google, has not disclosed many details, however, as per Webmaster trends analyst Mr. Gary Illyes,
- Responsive designs don’t really have a ranking benefit
- Googlebot should be permitted to crawl JavaScript & CSS in order to pass the “mobile-friendly” test
- This update will not affect the Tablets.
- Mobile friendliness will be decided at the page level and not sitewide
- Google is working on a dedicated mobile index currently
The websites that have more chances of being affected by the update-
Take precautions now ASAP is the word, to save your ranking position. Somo has come up with a list of sites after researching. This is the list that can be affected by the update –
- David Beckham’s official site
- Windows Phone
- The Scottish National Party
- Nintendo
- The Daily Mail
- The Official Website for the European Union
- Cotton Traders
- RyanAir
- Legal and General
- American Apparel
- Versace
- MI5
- The official website of the British Monarchy
- P&O Cruises
- Channel 4
- Danone
- Next
- RyanAir
Most of these brand names/ companies do have apps but their websites are not mobile friendly. So, it is time to change it and opt for responsive designs. Going mobile is the call of the day, and you have to take it seriously now because it is what Google is looking forward to. The aim here is to make it easy for the population of the world, who browse through websites over the internet.
Although, we are sure that the impact this update will have on the search engine will definitely be drastic, but what this impact will be is, still not disclosed. However, we do have an idea about the factors that will be added to change the visibility of a web site’s search.
It has been found that around 60%of all searches (Google) are now made via mobile devices. So, it is inevitable that Google takes mobile friendliness seriously. Google wants to provide the best experiences to its users and also wants to monetize on this.
Now, don’t fret, if your website is already mobile friendly. However, if it is not, then you will have to make the preparations. Make sure that the mobile version of your website is functional and active. The responsive designs are highly popular you can also have a different version of your website that is mobile. Google makes sure that the mobile users have an uninterrupted while using the search engine.
You will have to make sure that the Google bots can crawl your site, this is highly important and hence we are repeating the point again and again. If you find it difficult to do this yourself, then it is best to opt for the solutions provided by professional
But, don’t wait anymore, find a reliable
If you have already opted for the solutions of a professional
