Google's ‘mobilegeddon' update released
Posted on in Business News
April 21st's mobile-friendly update boosts mobile search rankings for pages that are legible and usable on mobile devices.
The impact of Google's mobile-friendly algorithm is expected to be more significant than Panda and Penguin combined - but the algorithm is set to take weeks to roll out, so you may not see changes to your search results immediately.
Google's own blog post, published today, states: "today's the day we begin globally rolling out our mobile-friendly update. 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."
This update:
- Affects only search rankings on mobile devices
- Affects search results in all languages globally
- Applies to individual pages, not entire websites
If your site's pages aren't mobile-friendly, there may be a significant decrease in mobile traffic from Google Search. However, unlike previous Google search algorithms, the ‘mobilegeddon' algorithm runs in real-time, so once your site becomes mobile friendly you will instantly start to see your Google ranking improve.
So, if you have not made your site mobile friendly yet, it isn't too late, you can implement changes to your site over the next few weeks to ensure you start to benefit from mobile traffic.
The update will affect mobile results but not tablets at this point. Also only organic search results will be affected, with Google My Business listings, answer box results and Google News not utilising the mobile-friendly algorithm at this point.
However mobile usability has been a factor in the Quality Score used by AdWords since 2011, so although the algorithm does not affect paid search listings at this point this could become the case in the coming months. ‘Mobilegeddon' is set to be Google's first update where AdWords cannot be your safety net.
If you need a solution to creating a mobile friendly site, ActSmart's partners can help...
Through the ActSmart's partnership with TicTail you can set up a bespoke, easy to use, fully functional e-commerce website in minutes. Users can choose from a number of fully optimised, responsive templates - meaning your site will look great on desktop, mobile and tablets and takes just minutes to set up.
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Tictail is a great short term solution to ensure your business retains a web presence which will be recognised by Google even after the changes come into force on 21st April.
However, if you're looking to give your online presence an overhaul and future proof all your sites against more changes, Leadspring provide a number of online services to help your business build a presence online and promote to new audiences. Whether you're looking for a new website or search engine optimisation for your own site - Leadspring can help.
Click here to find out exactly what services Leadsring can offer. Plus, Leadspring offer a 10% discount on any of the services available to ActSmart Silver, Gold and Platinum subscribers.