The Mad Scramble Toward Mobile: What You Need To Do NOW!

mobile phoneIn case you haven’t heard, Google did something unusual.  They announced an upcoming algorithm change which will go into effect on April 21, 2015.  Why did they do this?  They felt that this change was important enough to announce ahead of time in order to give businesses and nonprofits time to respond.

Here’s a snippet of what they said:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. 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.”

Although I don’t design websites, I’ve been telling my seminar attendees for some time now, that it’s not just about having mobile-responsive email marketing.  Once someone opens your email and clicks through to your website, what type of experience do they have once they are there?  Are you still frustrating them with small text?  Can they easily navigate and find what they’re looking for?

Recent statistics show that mobile usage accounts for 60% of all time spent online.  In a nutshell, what Google is saying here is that if your website is not mobile responsive, then you won’t show up on search results on mobile devices.  Google intends to reward mobile-friendly websites with better rankings in mobile search. If you care at all about search engine optimization, you simply can’t ignore Google’s announcement.

Here’s what I recommend you should do now:

  1. Read this short article by Ryan Pinkham, Content Manager at Constant Contact. He breaks it all down in simple language you can understand.
  2. If you can’t afford a complete overhaul of your website, consider optimizing the most important pages of your website by using a low-cost tool like Dudamobile.
  3. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see how your site is currently rated by Google. Here’s a snapshot of The Prospect Finder website’s test results.  Whew!  I passed!!

Google test of Prospect Finder website

About The Author

Maria Semple is the Founder and CEO of The Prospect Finder LLC. Maria consults to small businesses and nonprofit organizations on email marketing, social media and prospecting strategies. Her book, "Magnify Your Business" was published in October 2015. She is also a Certified Solution Provider with Constant Contact.