More and more people are using mobile technology to access the internet. How does your site look on these devices? If you’re not sure, take a peek using this free mobile website emulator to compare results across multiple outputs.

If you find that your mobile website looks poorly or needs updating, then it’s definitely time to get started on some key changes! In February, Google announced a major update to their rankings system. Beginning April 21, 2015 websites without a user-friendly mobile site will be demoted in their mobile search ranking.

How will the Google mobile rankings update affect your site? Read on to find out the implications and what you can do about it, or determine if it will really affect you at all.

MOBILE SITES
Smartphones, tablets, and other internet connected devices often require reduced loading times to efficiently portray websites to users. These smaller processors handle graphics and text at slower rates, as well as simple navigational links. That means simply that a mobile site must reduce these elements in order to offer a quick loading speed.

Google recommends mobile sites load in one second or less. For most sites, this load time demands the application of a separate “mobile site.” Websites without coding for such a site, will simply load the full site as seen on a computer, resulting in slow loading speeds.

THE DILEMMA
There are a lot of misinformed “SEO specialists” out there. Some of them have written some very persuading and much-read articles touting how this new Google mobile search update will affect any and every website across all search platforms. This is simply not true.

Read the text from Google closely:
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.

The language used here specifically states that this change only affects mobile searches, not all searches. So, in effect, this change is only relevant to websites that presently have a mobile site option or those businesses who would like to be found in mobile searches.

WHAT TO DO
Since this change is not pertinent to every business website, there are some important questions to be considered. First, does this change affect you? The answer to that lies in whether you have a mobile site or if you’d like to get one.

Gather data to guide you in this discovery process. Review analytics records about your site to determine how many users access it from a mobile device.

If your findings reveal very few people use mobile technology to search for your site, then it’s unlikely that this Google mobile search ranking update will affect you at all. However, that does not mean you should avoid updating or getting a mobile site altogether. What it does mean is that you have more time to research your options and determine the best mobile strategy for your business. Don’t jump into mobile immediately, but make a well-laid plan to achieve maximum results.

For those who discover that mobile users make up a large portion of their visitors, then yes, this Google update absolutely affects you. If you have an internal web development team or keep one on retainer, then most likely they are already on it. However, if you have followed more of a “pay as you go” method of web development, then you may need to hire someone to redevelop your mobile site. There are many services that focus solely on mobile site design. These are often the best choice since they remain most up-to-date with changes.

Lack of a user-friendly mobile website is just one mistake many business website owners may make. Read our blog post on “5 Common Small Business Website Mistakes That Can Cost You Customers” to be sure your website is at its prime!

Ready to hire a professional to assist in your website marketing campaign? Find out about the interactive process with Social Spice Media on the How We Work page.