Is your website mobile-friendly? If
not, don't be surprised if its ranking plummets on Google search results.
"Mobilegeddon" is here,
and websites that aren't mobile-friendly will suffer from the latest Google
apocalypse. The search giant is officially updating its algorithms today (April
21) to favor websites that look and perform better on mobile devices, making
them appear higher on search results.
Previous changes to Google's algorithm
simply required website owners to make sure their websites are mobile-optimized
for better viewing on smartphones and tablets. Now, factors such as
readability, responsive design and not using non-mobile friendly software (like
Flash) will also be taken into consideration in a website's search ranking.
Here's what the new Google SEO
changes mean and what it means for small businesses.
Mobile-friendliness ranking
As more and more users view websites
on mobile devices, Google wants to make it easier to find relevant,
mobile-optimized websites. To this end, Google will now use mobile-friendliness
as a factor in ranking search results.
To make your website
mobile-friendly, Google suggests taking the following steps:
- Visit Google's guide to mobile-friendly sites. This page offers several ways to make your site more mobile-friendly, such as by using software or a third-party developer.
- Take Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to see how optimized your website is for mobile viewing. You can test a single page on your site or several webpages and see exactly how Google's own Googlebot views the pages when determining search results.
- Use Webmaster Tools to generate a Mobile Usability Report, which helps identify any issues with your website when viewed on a mobile device.
App Indexing
In addition to favoring
mobile-friendly websites, Google announced last month that it will also factor
content from mobile apps when ranking search results.
Called App Indexing, this new
feature indexes apps for content, then shows those apps more prominently in
search results. Note that this only works when users are signed in to Google
and have the website's mobile app installed on their devices.
Google does not automatically index
app content, however. Webmasters will need to manually activate App Indexing
for app content to be scanned and to appear on search results. To help you get
started, Google offers this step-by-step guide to App Indexing.
For additional help and resources,
Webmasters can also browse or post questions about mobile website ranking and
App Indexing at Google's Webmaster Help Forum
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