As more and more people search on their mobile devices, Google is trying to ensure that visitors can not only find content that’s relevant, but also easy to read on mobile screens.
The tech giant gave mobile-friendly websites a boost on smartphones, after releasing drastic changes to its search algorithm, prompting the web to declare “Mobilegeddon.”
Some of the criteria to meet Google’s mobile standards include the ability to adjust for smaller screens (either through responsive design or detecting a mobile device and redirecting visitors to a dedicated mobile page), videos that are optimized for mobile, text which is large enough so visitors can read without zooming or horizontal scrolling, as well as links that can be easily clicked on touch screen devices.
While this latest change only impacts searches conducted on smartphones – desktop searches will be unaffected – it is important to keep in mind that mobile searches equate to about half of all Google queries these days.
Now you might think that Google is not the only search engine out there, but according to CNN Money, two thirds of the US search market is controlled by Google.
But not all is lost, even if your site is not mobile friendly at this point – content is still king, which is another vital factor in Google’s calculations. Plus, once you implement the changes to your site, you should see improvements to your ratings within a few days.
NPR sited a study done by online marketing firm Portent, which found that a majority of the Web’s top sites, 10,000 out of the top 25,000 sites, actually aren’t mobile friendly.
How does your site fair? Take the test and connect with us, should you need to make some adjustments to your website.
UPDATE: During the AdWords Performance Summit on May 5th Google announced that mobile search queries have now surpassed desktop queries in 10 countries, including the United States.