Important question: Is your site mobile-optimised?
This is no longer simply a nice feature to have. Starting this month, it could be key to your blog getting seen.
On April 21 Google is updating its algorithm, making mobile-friendliness a more important factor in search results. It’s unclear exactly how what its repercussions will be, but experts are saying it could result in sites with good rankings suddenly dropping. It’s being referred to as “mobilegeddon” — it’s that important and potentially devastating to your search results.
What it means
This article from Entrepreneur explains what’s happening in a clear, non-jargony way and links to a lot of resources.
What you can do
Hopefully you have chosen a theme for your blog that is “responsive” — that means it is mobile-friendly and automatically adapts itself when viewed on a smartphone. Go now and check it using Google’s mobile-friendly test page.
If you are a WordPress user, you can get a quick fix we discovered recently: downloading and installing the WPTouch plug-in, recommended to us by May from Ladies in Blogging. It basically delivers a mobile-friendly version of your existing site, using set mobile themes. It may not look exactly like your current theme but shouldn’t fall foul of Google’s update.
Get to know Webmaster Tools
If you haven’t already, it’s time to take the plunge and start using Google Webmaster Tools. These are powerful tools that can tell you a lot about your site and its usability, not just on mobile but also about your traffic, referrers and more. It provides real insight as well as advice on how to improve your site’s performance on search.
Go to Webmaster Tools and start learning more about your site.
Resources to help you
Above all, don’t panic.
There’s still time to bone up on what you need to do to make sure you don’t fall afoul of Google’s update
- Use Google’s guide to mobile-friendly websites, which has dedicated sections for the types of software on which sites are built.
- This article on Search Engine Journal explains some of the terms used in search and what they mean
- We found this article helpful as well in describing the April 21 update and what it means
Have you already prepared for the April 21 update? Do you regularly pay attention to SEO and search? Leave us a comment and tell us your situation.
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Home page and top image: Hands holding mobile by Robert Kneschke via Shutterstock
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Penny Pincher (Dawn)
Friday 3rd of April 2015
I just checked my site and it's mobile friendly phew. I had no clue about any of this until I read this post, thank you.
Laura
Wednesday 1st of April 2015
Very informative. I am on blogger so I am fine but have shared for those who have custom sites. :-)