Google has made it official and you can no longer put off that move towards a mobile-friendly website. Starting April 21st, Google mobile search will start ranking mobile-friendly websites higher and therefore punishing those that are not.
Google has been working on improving the mobile search and over all experience of mobile users. As of now, Google has indicated this will only effect mobile users, but there is speculation that mobile-friendly will be considered on desktop searches also.
Why does “Mobile-Friendly” Matter?
According to ComsScore, “total activity on smartphones and tablets accounting for an astounding 60 percent of digital media time spent in the U.S.” Which means mobile should no longer be an afterthought. Mobile marketing is important.
How to solve the problem
Your website can be tested for its current mobile-friendly compatibility by copying and pasting the web address into the Google mobile-friendly analyzer.
If your site is found to be “not mobile-friendly,” certain actions can be taken which may help to pass Google’s test: Increasing text-size, decreasing page width and spacing out in-page links will improve a site’s chances of getting recognized as “mobile-friendly.”
One other thing to keep in mind, even if your site passes the Google Mobile-Friendly Test, it doesn’t necessary mean your mobile customers are navigating your site easily. You can test how your site looks on some of the most popular devices today, by entering your web address into the Responsinator tester. It is not a 100% accurate representation of your site on these devices, but is very close and gives you great feedback on what changes need to be made.
For those businesses that don’t have a mobile-friendly site after the new Google algorithm goes into effect, there is some good news. Once your site becomes mobile-friendly, Google will identify the change relatively quickly.