How many times have you been told that mobile is becoming
increasingly important or the next big thing in search? Have you taken steps to
ensure that your site is mobile-friendly? If not, the time has arrived for you
to make sure that your website provides an optimal user experience. Google has
even confirmed that they are experimenting with using mobile-friendliness as a
ranking signal in November. If that does not make you take mobile seriously,
only a penalty will.
Google also began sending mass notifications to webmasters
who have less-than-mobile-friendly sites. These notifications came with a
threat that under-optimized pages would “be displayed and ranked appropriately
for smartphone users” (yikes!).
First thing’s first: is your site mobile-friendly or not?
Google has made it pretty easy to check with its Mobile-FriendlyTest tool. You can also use Webmaster Tools’ Mobile Usability feature to
check for errors and other usability issues. If you find that your site has
issues, make it a priority to fix them. Some common fixes are:
- Make sure that your site’s content is readable without zooming and scrolling
- Use inks and navigation that are easy to click on from a mobile device
- Avoid software that is not mobile friendly, like Flash, and avoid excessive JavaScript
- Ensure that your landing pages and contact forms are easy to fill out from a mobile device
Once your site is officially mobile-friendly, Google will
slap a “mobile-friendly” label on your organic listing in the SERPs (score!).
Mobile traffic is skyrocketing, but plenty of webmasters are
not even sure how much of their traffic is coming from mobile devices. Make
sure to check out your site’s mobile traffic in Analytics. It can be found
under Audience>Mobile>Overview. You may be shocked to see just how many
users are funneling in through their phones.
MTV recently redesigned several of its web properties and
reported a 92% boost in mobile visits and 297% increase in time spent for their
MTV Shows page. Those are results that speak to the power of mobile!
Whether you are an e-commerce, B2B or B2C website, it is in
your best interest to have a mobile-friendly site. Your mobile traffic—and
quality of mobile traffic—will see increases, and oh, Google won’t blacklist
you from mobile listings. So take the time and make your website is mobile-friendly today!
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