Mobilegeddon has arrived. What does it all mean you ask? Today, Tuesday April 21st, 2015 Google is introducing a major change to its mobile search algorithm that will heavily favour websites built to be mobile friendly. Websites with large text, easy-to-click links, and that are built responsive (meaning they scale to the size of screen you are viewing them on) will rank higher than those without these mobile friendly features. This will have an impact on your business and your bottom-line if your website is not mobile-friendly.
For example, the bounce rate of most websites is around 40%, but bounce rates on mobile devices can be as high as 75% for websites that aren’t mobile friendly. Simply put, websites that are not mobile friendly lose 75% of the mobile traffic they land. Even more simply put, this means potential lost revenue for your business.
A good way to test this is to pull out your phone and visit your company website. Now try to find simple information like hours of operation, phone number, services offered, or products available. Click on some links, and try to use the menu. If that proved annoying for you, just think of how it makes your potential customers feel? You’ve done everything right by getting relevant traffic to your website only to lose the potential sale because the user wasn’t able to easily find key information on your website.
This change shouldn’t be a surprise as mobile web surfing has surpassed surfing on a desktop. 51% of all web traffic comes from a mobile phone or tablet in Canada (it’s over 61% in the USA), and Google is rewarding those sites that are built with mobile in mind.
What can you do right now?
- Test your website – We can do this for you and will provide this test to you for free.
- Understand what mobile friendly means – Viewing text without having to zoom, content that fits the screen to reduce scrolling and zooming, get rid of all flash (you can thank Steve Jobs for this one), space your links far enough apart so that they can be touched with a single finger, etc.
- Fix the problems – Fixing your website is the easy part, but it takes time. Building your site to be responsive is the best option for long-term, but there are other options if you need a quick fix, like creating a mobile only version of the site with key information.
- Make it a priority – If this has taken the back burner for a few years you’re going to take a hit in the ranks. The time to make it a priority is right now. Having your website show up in search is crucial, and if you aren’t showing up at all on a mobile search you are missing out on a huge opportunity.
Revolve creates beautiful, functional, and mobile responsive websites that are easy to use and future facing. We pride ourselves on helping our clients build their businesses by applying distuptive thinking to create powerful brands with purpose.
If you’re as confused about this as most people are please drop me a line and let our team help. We welcome new clients and have mobile website solutions for businesses of all sizes.
Contact us today at info@revolve.ca or 902-835-3559