Google Makes a Huge Change This Week To Their Algorithm
Written by John Ranby
21st April 2015
As of the 21st April 2015, Google is launching a major update to it’s mobile search algorithm.
The update has made such a significant impact that the release date has been titled “Mobile-geddon” amongst other similarly dramatic names!
This new feature will change the order of a website’s rankings when a user searches for something on their phone; favouring businesses with mobile-friendly websites that include large text, easy-to-click links and the ability to resize to fit whatever screen they’re viewed on. Websites that aren’t mobile-friendly, even if their sites include relevant content, will be demoted and potentially lose web traffic.
Fortunately this update was announced in February, giving webmasters the time to edit their sites ready for the search engine “shake-up”. With 60% of online traffic coming from mobile devices, it is essential that businesses ensure they pop up on all mobile search results.
Small business are however still at risk of being negatively impacted by Google’s recent update. Businesses that rely on specifically local searches, e.g. coffee shops, cafés etc – may notice a decrease in their foot traffic, as mobile users won’t necessarily be notified of their existence.
Google is known for consistently providing relevant search results to it’s customers. However this new update shows that Google are putting just as much if not more emphasis on user-experience as they are on content quality. In an increasingly fast-paced world mobile users want easy, no fuss access to websites, so even if the content is exactly what they require it won’t be beneficial to them if they can’t access it easily from their portable mobile device. Given the fact that users don’t want to pinch, zoom, scroll and spend ages on a website; and with the way we search rapidly changing with more and more people distancing themselves from the desktop; it is nothing short of essential for business to become mobile friendly.
It is not only small companies that will be affected. Big brands who have not adapted to Google’s new feature will also feel the impact of “Mobile-geddon”. Daily Mail, American Apparel and Ryanair are amongst the large, powerful companies who will notice the difference if they do not change their websites from the 21st April 2015 onwards.
If you are worried about where your business will appear in a mobile user’s search results, there is no better way to prepare for the change than by using Google’s test to see if Google acknowledges your webpage as mobile-friendly.
