In today's age, having a mobile-friendly website is a necessity if you want your small business to rank well in search engine results. This is especially true when it comes to Google, the most popular search engine being used.
Google launched its mobile-friendly search ranking update in April, 2015. This means Google will boost the rankings of mobile-friendly pages and penalize those that aren't when a user is searching from a mobile device. Many major companies still fail to pass Google's mobile-friendly test. Let's take a look at what these changes are and how it could affect your website.
What the Mobile-Friendly Update Entails
This update takes into account the accessibility and usability on mobile devices when users are performing a mobile search. The ranking takes into consideration individual pages and not the entire website.
Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly?
Google's standards for mobile friendliness are basic and easy to understand. One standard is that your text is readable without having to zoom in or out. This means having your website resize the content according to screen size. Links should also be spaced far enough apart so a user can click the correct one they are wanting to tap. If your website still uses software such as Flash, Google will frown on your site as it hinders users access to your content.
Another factor that is often overlooked is page load time. If your site takes a long time to load because of too many photos, plugins, or other components, your site will not pass Google's mobile-friendly test.
Make Certain Your Website is Optimized for Mobile
The best way to ensure your website is mobile optimized is by using responsive design. Responsive web design will allow your website to adjust according to a user's screen size. The text and images will shrink or enlarge depending on the size of a screen. This gives your website a more professional appearance, no matter what device a person is using.
Having a mobile optimized website not only makes for a great user experience, it will help ensure your website meets Google's criteria for mobile friendliness.
Contact us to learn more about how to optimize your website for mobile devices.