As of April 21st 2015, Google has changed it’s search algorithm on mobile devices to give higher ranking to mobile-friendly websites. What this means for your business is that when potential clients use Google to search for a website on their smart phone or tablet, the results are going to favor businesses with websites that are coded specifically for those mobile devices. This is called “mobile design” or “responsive design”.
This is great news for consumers since it means they are less likely to have the unfortunate experience of browsing websites with tiny text, weird scrolling jumps and slow loading speeds. It’s also great news for businesses as it means those who have put the effort and investment into a high-quality, modern, responsive website are more likely than ever before to get rewarded for that. Their websites will rise to the top and those that are not mobile-friendly will get penalized and bumped down.
For businesses that have not updated their websites in the last few years, this presents an opportunity. Not having mobile -friendly website puts your businesses at a disadvantage. Statistics tell us that the number of local searches done on smartphones has quadrupled since just 2012 and 63% of people who do local searches from their smartphones – make a purchase within 1 hour! * So if users aren’t able to find your business on their mobile device you are losing out on a huge amount of potential sales revenue and brand awareness! Converting your business website to a responsive, mobile-friendly version – has never been more critical.
If you are unsure whether or not your current business website passes the test, head over here to Google’s helpful Website Analyzer. Google will analyze your website and also has numerous tips available on how to improve your site’s mobile-friendliness.
If you’d like a professional web design company to help you navigate the decisions you face in order to comply with Google’s new requirements, we’d love to work with you to redesign, or in some cases, just make tweaks to get your business website passing Google’s test and showing up as high as possible in search results. Give us a call today at 306-586-6118. We’re located in Regina but we service and partner with businesses all across Saskatchewan!
Note: It’s important to note that while responsive design is an excellent solution, mobile versions are also in certain cases a more appropriate one. A person browsing on a mobile device may have different goals than someone using a full desktop version. Google recognizes this and does not give preference of one over the other.
Source: http://www.cision.com/us/2013/06/50-mobile-search-stats-and-why-you-should-care/