5 Things You Need to Know About Google’s Next Update

Are You Ready for Google’s Next Update?

Google is making a big change to search. And if you’re not prepared, it will cost you.

Here are 5 things you need to know to be ready.

1. Effective April 21, 2015, Google is changing their algorithm to take into account the high volume of searches done on mobile devices. According to Google, “This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”
2. Why the change? Google simply wants to ensure that their users have an optimal experience no matter what device they use.
3. What does this mean for you? If your website isn’t capable of being viewed properly on mobile devices Google is going to penalize you for it by not including your website in search results.The big takeaway here is that if your website is not mobile responsive, your site won’t show up when someone searches with their mobile device. It’s as if your site doesn’t exist.
4. Why does this matter? Mobile search now accounts for about 60% of online traffic to websites. Can you afford to miss out on that traffic when your site doesn’t show up in search results? Plus, from a customer service standpoint, you want to make your user experience as easy and helpful as possible. If someone wants to quickly visit your website on their mobile device to find out your store hours, location or phone number and they can’t find the information or see it easily on their screen, you just lost their business.
5. How to find out if your website is mobile ready? Enter your website’s URL into Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and it will let you know if you’ve got a mobile-friendly page on your hands. If the website you entered passes Google’s test, you will see a green banner indicating the website is mobile-friendly.

If the website does not pass, Google will let you know the page is not mobile-friendly and give some reasons why. You should make it a priority to get these issues fixed. If you have a WordPress website, that may mean changing your theme to one that is mobile responsive.

Remember that a well-optimized mobile website will make it easy for customers to find the information they are looking for and complete their desired tasks on mobile devices.

Is your website mobile responsive? Have you checked? Let us know.