Ever since 2015 when Google started ranking sites according to how mobile-friendly they are, it’s become essential to cater for customers using smartphones or tablets. If your website drops in the rankings because it’s not mobile friendly, you’re on a slippery slope. With mobile platforms now accounting for over 60 percent of searches, you can’t afford to be missing out on developing a mobile strategy.
Mobile marketing is now a hugely important party of any digital marketing strategy, with the global number of internet users using their mobile devices more than desktop computers. This means that your company’s website is potentially accessible from anywhere at any time. Now Google is ranking sites that are mobile friendly above non-mobile friendly sites. So if you don’t have a good mobile site you will be losing your rankings, therefore losing business from the device most used to browse the internet! Now do you think mobile traffic is important?
According to research conducted by Centre for Retail Research (CRR), the UK retail industry is losing £6.6bn per year due to lack of investment into mobile sites. Retailers have reported that their sales from mobile devices have almost doubled between 2013 – 2014 and has only grown since, so we would assume this would increase further. As we are seeing more people use their mobile for internet browsing, Google has stepped up their game and introduced an algorithm which looks at the usability of a website from a mobile device.
What is Google looking for?
Google is very private about exactly what they are looking at when ranking sites and what sites need to rank on phones well, but we can tell you that the people at Google are trying to get the best results for the searchers. They want the number 1 result to be the best website for the searchers intent, so if they are looking to buy something they want the top result to be a reliable, e-commerce site that has what the person is looking for. Or if someone is looking for information the top search result should be a reliable, informative site from a credible source. The introduction of the mobile algorithm is no different! Start by asking yourself these 3 questions:
- If a customer visits my site on a mobile device, will the text be readable and the layout clear?
- Will the links and menus allow mobile visitors to move around my site easily?
- Does the page fit widthways on a mobile display without scrolling?
If you haven’t addressed these issues on your website, you could be losing valuable traffic from customers who think ‘mobile first’. In the end it’s a matter of how important your sales are to you, and whether you can afford to miss out on the massive increase in mobile traffic which is only going to increase with time.