Those crafty folks at Google are at it again, keeping us all on our toes regarding search results. Hopefully you’ve heard about algorithm updates Panda and Penguin, as both carried significant penalties for folks who tried to game the system. Panda, introduced in 2011, focused on stopping sites with crappy quality content from displaying in top search results. Penguin was launched in April 2012 to catch sites they thought where spamming search results, especially those that bought links to boost Google rankings.
Well, now Google is putting its laser focus on the mobile friendliness of your site as a top indicator of where you’ll place in search results. The difference here is that with Panda and Penguin they penalized website owners who may - intentionally or not - have been utilizing suspect efforts in getting that ‘page 1’ listing.
But there are lots of folks who just aren’t that savvy or have the time to mobile-optimize their site. It’s not like they are intentionally ‘not’ optimizing. So hopefully, this, or many other articles out there like this one from CopyBlogger will help you dodge a big penalty you may just have not known to take action to fix.
What’s the fix? Make your site mobile friendly! There’s a couple ways to figure out if yours is. First, hit your site from your iPhone. Does it look janky? Well my friend you need a fix (more on that later). Second, go to this ‘mobile-friendly test’ link NOW! Here’s our results 🙂
Yay! We scored high, so have no concern about the upcoming Google Mobile Penalty.
Whew! Ha, really this wasn’t a surprise, we built our www and application to be mobile optimized from the get-go.
So why is Google making this change? Because mobile search is the new black. Many estimates put mobile traffic at 30% of all organic traffic, and it’s growing. And in their pursuit of always returning search results that deliver the best possible experience to users, this is big.
Our mobile traffic is only 15%, but growing.
When does this change take place, you ask? April 21, 2015 is the day Google has stated that these changes will start to take ‘significant’ effect.
So what to do if your site fails the test? One quick fix could be via mobile site creators like our friends at DudaMobile. It’s fast, affordable and just about anyone can do it in minutes. That’ll get you out of hot water, and if that solution works long-term great! But if you decide down the road you want to build a fully optimized, responsive website from the ground up, you can consider that later. Whichever path you choose, do it now!
And for more information, check out this really great post from CopyBlogger about all things related to the possible repercussions from this Google Mobile Penalty.