A controversial advertisement by Protein World, which appeared in London Underground stations, promoting ‘The Weightloss Collection’ has caused quite a stir. The ads featured Australian model Renee Sommerfield in a yellow bikini asking “Are You Beach Body Ready?”

Image via Time.com

According to Time, a petition with more than fifty thousand signatures was looking to get the billboards removed. The British Advertising Standards Authority has received over 200 complaints that the ad is “offensive, irresponsible and harmful because it promotes an unhealthy body image.”

Pictures of defaced posters have gone viral on Twitter under the hashtag #everybodysready, and while body image campaigners and feminists have been condemning the campaign, some companies have created their own ads in response.

Dove answered “Yes. We are beach body ready.” showing off curvy, bikini-clad women.

Image via Daily Mail

Carlsberg beer bought up billboard spots in close proximity, with a beer bottle sporting a yellow bikini bottom asking “Are You Beer Body Ready?” – adding the hashtag #probably.

Image via Twitter

Others still are following suit, offering their take on beach perfection…

Image via Twitter

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.

“…The top spot on a search page typically attracts 20% to 30% of the page’s clicks, according to Adam Bunn, SEO director of digital marketing agency Greenlight. After that comes an enormous tail-off: Positions two to three generate 5% to 10% of the clicks, and links below that receive less than 1% of users’ attention.”

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.