Google Mobilegeddon – did you notice?
On the 21st April 2015 Google changed its Search Engine Algorithm to help better serve mobile-friendly sites when searching on a mobile device or more specifically a mobile phone. In the IT industry this change was coined as ‘Mobilegeddon’!
Recent statistics show that 46% of all searches are now carried out on a mobile device. The inference was that Google’s update would have a huge impact on traffic being driven to your website through Google’s search engine results if your site was not mobile-friendly.
So, did you notice? Have you had a significant drop in enquiries or sales through your website since 21st April?
As part of our own research and Search Engine Optimisation relating to ‘IT Support Manchester’, we found that whilst searching on a mobile device Google’s results did in fact highlight which sites were mobile-friendly however, and quite significantly, there were still non mobile-friendly sites ranking very highly in the results. In trying to find out why this was the case we came across this snippet of information on Google’s Webmaster Central Blog.
While the mobile-friendly change is important, we still use a variety of signals to rank search results. The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.
So, even if your site is not mobile-friendly your position in the search results may not be adversely affected.
The April 21st update was Google’s first attempt at improving the mobile search experience, it’s likely that they will fine tune the process with further updates so if your website is not yet mobile-friendly, it’s a good idea to future proof your business now and update your website. If you are unsure if your website is mobile-friendly, Google have provided a tool which can be found here.
We offer IT Support and Consultation in Manchester and the North West, please feel free to contact us to find out how we can help your business.
