It is quite the buzzword lately, and you either “have it” or you don’t. Not having it can be detrimental to your online presence and nullify any investments you put into your website.
Yes, we speak of Search Engine Optimization, commonly referred to as SEO.
SEO is the practice of making your website appear the most relevant to folks looking to find you online. There are many tips and tricks to boost your website’s rankings on Google and other search engines, and SEO companies make a pretty penny selling their magic beans to unsuspecting businesses just looking to get to the top of those page rankings.
The good news? SEO is relatively simple, and Cube Creative can set you up with a well-designed and well-optimized website. The bad news? Google is stepping up its game.
Folks, welcome to MOBILEGEDDON 2015.
Google announced in February that it is changing the way it ranks websites in search results. Because more people are Googling on their mobile devices, Google wants to make search results more relevant for those users. As of April 21, 2015, Google’s search algorithms will focus more on sites that are mobile-friendly.
What does a mobile-friendly website mean?
SearchEngineWatch.com discussed Mobilegeddon with Google Webmaster trends analyst Gary Illyes in a recent blog. Illyes shared that while responsive site designs (designs that adjust content based on the viewing screen size) do not affect Google’s page ranking, responsive web designs are Google’s recommended configuration.
So how does your website fare with Google’s impending Mobilegeddon? Take this short quiz to find out:
- Is your site hard to read on mobile devices or smaller screen sizes?
- Do you have to zoom or scroll excessively on a smart phone or tablet to see all of your site?
- Is your site older than 3 years?
- Are you using Flash for animations or plug-ins?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is likely your website is not going to fare well past Mobilegeddon.
Tips to surviving Mobilegeddon
Here are a few tips to help you survive Mobilegeddon. Ask Cube Creative how we can help you!
- Ditch the mobile site. Maintaining two sites can be costly, and may require updates for future technologies. Instead, opt for a responsive web design. Responsive websites are built from their foundations to be easily viewed on any screen size.
- Be sure text is easy to read on mobile devices. When smart phones access a website and it looks identical to what would appear on a desktop computer, users are forced to enlarge sections of the page to read the text. Google will start penalizing you in search results if it finds this mobile usability issue.
- Make buttons “fat finger friendly.” Small text links may work when you’re using a mouse and a larger screen, but anyone who has tried to click a small link on their smart phone knows that it can be very tricky. These “touch elements” are also detected by Google, and can affect page rank.
- Get rid of Flash elements. Adobe’s Flash was a great tool for adding animations and interactivity on websites 10 years ago. However it takes so much power to run that most mobile devices have abandoned it. That means if mobile devices pull up your site and it is full of Flash, those users are left with nothing. Literally nothing – Flash content is lost. Modern web design uses CSS3 and Javascript to incorporate those animations and interactivity.
- Check individual pages for mobile friendliness. Google doesn’t rank the whole website as one page rank score. Google ranks individual pages. Just because your home page is mobile-friendly doesn’t mean the rest of your site is.
- Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see if your site cuts the mustard.
Why should I care?
Google search rankings are critical to online success. If someone Googles “florist Oakville NC” and I am an Oakville florist, I’m going to want that user to find my business. Optimizing your business’ website for search engines is one of the easiest ways to reach new customers. It is easy to be overwhelmed by all the technology jargon and coding languages, which is why Cube Creative Design is your best resource to help you both navigate and thrive past Mobilegeddon 2015.
