This month Google rolled out changes that were likely to impact your website’s ranking. From April 21, 2015, Google began favouring websites that are mobile-friendly.
To quote Google directly:
“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.”
What is a mobile-responsive website?
A “mobile-responsive website” is created for easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling, across a wide range of devices — from large desktop computer screens to the small screens on mobile phones. Rather than creating separate desktop and mobile versions of a site, a responsive design fluidly adapts its layout to suit whatever screen it is displayed on.
With a continuing increase in people browsing the internet using their mobile phones, an upgrade to a mobile-responsive website is imperative to:
- Provide your customers the best possible experience, regardless of device
- Give your business a better chance of improving your Google search results
- Stay competitive as the majority of internet traffic continues to shift towards mobile
What you should do
If you are unsure whether your current website is mobile-responsive, the easiest check is to open your site on a smartphone and see whether the text is readable without zooming, and whether buttons and links are easy to tap. Google also provides a free Mobile-Friendly Test tool you can use to get an instant assessment.
To discuss an upgrade or to find out if your current website is mobile-responsive, please contact us.
