23 Apr Google’s New Ranking Algorithm: Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

Here’s How To Find Out

In May of last year, I wrote an article entitled “What is Responsive Web Design and Why It’s Important.” The article discussed Google’s announcement, back then, /what-is-responsive-web-design-and-why-its-important/that it had a preference for a new technology called “Responsive design.” Well, now Google is using this preference in it’s new algorithm update rollout on April 21^st.

So, if your website is not built with the latest responsive design technology- it can hurt your business by either not enabling it to show up in an online search, or not displaying well on the device used to search. And if a website does not display well, according to research done by Google, “if a user lands on your mobile website and is frustrated or doesn’t see what they are looking for, there’s a 61% chance they will leave immediately and go to another website (most likely a competitor).” Google also reports that if the website visitor has “a positive experience with your mobile website, a user is 67% more likely to buy a product or use a service.”

That said, have you checked what your website looks like on a mobile device such as a phone or a tablet?

What is Responsive Web Design?

Optimal Viewing Experience

Responsive web design (RWD) is an approach to web design aimed at building websites to provide an optimal viewing experience for the website visitor. A Responsively built website makes it easy for the site visitor to read and navigate the website. Responsive websites can be read easily across a wide range of devices with a minimum of resizing, zooming, and scrolling. They can be read easily on all devices, from mobile phones to desktop computers because they adjust to the size and type of device or screen size.

Because more and more people are using mobile devices to conduct searches for goods or service online it makes sense to make sure they have the best viewing experience possible and responsive mobile-friendly web design is now essential to the growth of any business with a website.

Responsive Sites Are Rewarded With Higher Ranking

Given this reality, Google is now rewarding sites that are mobile-friendly by giving them higher ranking in the search results. In a recent announcement on April 21^st when they rolled out their new ranking algorithm, Google stated “We’re boosting the ranking of mobile-friendly pages on mobile search results. Now searchers can more easily find high-quality and relevant results where text is readable without tapping or zooming, tap targets are spaced appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling.”

Sites To Check Your Website Mobile Friendliness

For Mobile Phones

Here are a few sites where you can check how your website displays on different devices and screen sizes:

For Mobile Phones

http://www.mobilephoneemulator.com/

For Tablets and Phones

http://emulator.mobilewebsitesubmit.com/ https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

For iPads
http://www.ipadpeek.com

Need Help? Just Call Us

If you would like some help either with evaluating your existing website for responsiveness or with creating a new responsive website- then email Wayne or contact Wayne by phone at 781-325-8186

Want a quote for a project like this? Send Wayne a link to the website you want us to evaluate or make responsive. We will take it from there.

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References:

What is Responsive Web Design and Why It’s Important

https://kesslermarketing.com/what-is-responsive-web-design-and-why-its-important/

Google’s April 21st Algorithm Announcement:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/04/rolling-out-mobile-friendly-update.html

Principles Of Mobile Site Design: Delight Users And Drive Conversions White paper:

http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/intl/ALL_ALL/think/multiscreen/pdf/multi-screen-moblie-whitepaper_research-studies.pdf

Building Websites for the Multi-Screen Consumer white paper

http://www.google.com/think/multiscreen/whitepaper-multiscreenconsumer.html

6 Undeniable Reasons Why Your Website Should Be Responsive

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/responsive-design-list

Summary: This article is about websites and Responsive Design discussing Google’s New Ranking Algorithm: Is Your Website Mobile Friendly? All business owners need to be aware of, and incorporate Responsive design in their websites.