Seriously, Google is going to penalize your website if it isn’t mobile-friendly.
Google is making some big changes coming to search results everywhere – and soon. Starting April 21, Google will be “expanding use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal” which basically means they will give higher ranking authority to websites that are mobile-friendly.
When the other shoe drops, we’re anticipating a flood of questions and concerns about what actually makes a website “mobile-friendly”. Below we’re going to explore what it means to be mobile-friendly and what you can do to maintain or even increase your search engine optimization and ranking amid this coming change.
What is Mobile-friendly?
It’s a fair question. Everyone seems to define mobile-friendly websites differently. In this specific instance, we’re going to explore how Google defines “mobile-friendly” and what you can do to prepare for the upcoming changes.
According to the almighty Google, your website is mobile-friendly if it:
- Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
- Uses text that is readable without zooming
- Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
- Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
Is Your Website Mobile-friendly?
Lucky for you, Google has launched a free tool to check mobile-compatibility (in relation to their standards). If you want to test your website, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test here: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly.
How to Make Your Website Mobile-friendly
There are two approaches you can take: fix it yourself or pay your website company (or developer) to fix it for you.
- Fix it Yourself – If you decide to fix it yourself, Google has created a nice little guide for you: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/get-started.
- Hire an Agency – Looking for an agency to fix the issues for you? Check out our mobile-conversion packages: https://sproutbox.co/mobile-friendly-website-conversion.