Mobile friendly Websites are now a Must…Google just said so.

The algorithm…the mysterious governing property of the Google universe.  The system of rules that Google’s spider adhere to.  It’s nature may never be known like an unbroken enigma machine.  Google does not give us the secrets within the algorithm but they do let us know what it likes and does not like.   Most recently, Google has added mobile friendly websites as a critical priority to ranking well on mobile searches.  I have touched upon the zoom of doom in earlier blog articles.  The websites that contain”the zoom of doom”are websites that have you zooming in and out to read content and ultimately leave the user utterly frustrated.  60% of the time they will simply leave the site if it is not mobile.  Like most people in my field, we realized the forecast for these sites are grim.  Non-mobile sites hemorrhage potential leads due to their annoying functionality.  But now, they will hemorrhage these leads in a different way.  Google will now bury non-mobile sites in mobile searches.

Here are some quick points on what non-mobile sites have (believe it or not these dinosaurs are still roaming the web).

  • Flash programming:  We all thought things moving around on the screen was cool 10 years ago.  These sites often have animation that might look cool, but they offer no value to Google searches.  They are only images in Google eyes.  Google requires more substantial code to understand sites.  Most importantly, Flash does not show up at all on mobile.  Right click on a portion of a website you might suspect is flash to see  if it is.
  • Pinch and zoom:  If you have to pinch,zoom and swipe to read small portions of content at a time, you are a dinosaur.  Buh-bye Google ranking.
  • Horizontal scrolling:  If content does not fit perfectly to the size of the screen and you have to scroll horizontally, you are a dinosaur.  Your website needs to only scroll vertically and have all content adapt to the size of the mobile devices being used. Visit irishpaving.ie.
  • Link placement and navigation:  It is very frustrating poking around at a group of links that are extremely close together.  The links need to be placed with enough space so the user can click with ease.

Here is tool Google has recently offered that will let you know if your website is mobile-friendly.  https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

The importance of mobile can no longer be ignored.  Google has finally put the nail in the coffin of the zoom of doom.  The rule has been added and there is no going back.

We can make sure your website is totally mobile friendly.  60% of searches are done on mobile.  Do not miss out on these critical leads.  I know it is easy to ignore the mobile design and assume that people are looking at it on laptops.  This is not the case.  Give us a call and let us help you retain customers when they go to your site. Also, more importantly, retain and improve your mobile search rankings.