Mobile is the new black: Google piles on the pressure for mobile-friendly websites

Friday (4th November 2016)  saw a blog post from Google outlining a search algorithm change that will be the final nail in the coffin of non-responsive and non-mobile friendly websites.

Google have previously only used the mobile-friendliness of a website to determine which sites are shown to mobile users. If your site isn’t mobile friendly but a competitor is there’s a good chance that their site will appear before yours in search results already.

With the latest change, Google intend to start using the content of your mobile-friendly website as the main method of classifying and ranking your website, disregarding content on your non-mobile site. Google explained, “our algorithms will eventually primarily use the mobile version of a site’s content to rank pages from that site”.

This “mobile-first” attitude is in line with the ever-increasing focus on mobile users. Which is not surprising as mobile-users now account for “more than half” of Google searches.

If you’re already mobile-friendly you’ve got nothing to worry about as Google have confirmed that “If you have a responsive site … you shouldn’t have to change anything.”

Use our free mobile-checkup tool

Not sure if your website is mobile-friendly? Worried you might be lagging behind your competitors in the race to cater for an ever-increasing mobile audience? Check your site today at www.obrienmedia.co.uk/mobilefriendly and find out what to do next or drop us a line on [email protected] to find out more about getting your website mobile-ready!