Google 'mobilegeddon' on 21st April 2015

Is your website mobile friendly? If not, I strongly recommend you buy a one-way ticket to 'mobile friendly land' before 'mobilegedden' on April 21st 2015 !

Google is bringing out a new change on the 21st of April 2015 which basically states that if you have a website which is not mobile friendly or “responsive” then it is going to get penalised which means that your rankings and current position on Google will most likely drop.

Many of Google’s updates are just little refreshes to improve the users experience however this change which is going to happen on the 21st of April is potentially going to have the biggest effect on Google’s search rankings than any other update they have previously rolled out.

This change has come around due to the amount of people who actually use mobile phones to surf the internet. Roughly around 4 billion people own a mobile phone and 80% of the internet is searched with a mobile phone.

Google has advised for a long time that websites should be built with a responsive web design as they are about giving the user the best possible experience. Having a mobile friendly website will help make your website efficient and easier for customers to use which has been proven to lead to more sales for your business.

Google isn’t too bothered whether or not your website is going to be mobile responsive or mobile friendly as long as it is one of the two. Here is what both a “mobile” website and a “responsive” website mean:-

• Responsive websites. These will adapt and change size depending on the size of screen you’re using. So if you are looking at a responsive site on a tablet or mobile phone, the site will automatically readjust itself to fit on that size screen. Responsive technology has evolved over the past couple of years. As a general rule all of the websites we have developed over the past 2 years or so are responsive; older ones are not. So if your site is older than this as we’ve been advising clients via email over the past few weeks and months, then you could have some big problems as of 21st April 2015.
   
• Mobile website. This is where you have two websites; a normal version of your website and a mobile version of your website. This is the “old school” way of doing things and has lost favour since responsive web design has become popular over the past couple of years. One of the main reasons is that you effectively have two websites, and have to keep two up to date. A good example is the BBC, which recently changed from having a normal and mobile website to just having one responsive website.

If you already have a responsive or mobile friendly website then there’s not a lot for you to do. Just check that your website works well on a desktop screen, tablet screen and mobile screen and that all the pages load perfectly to maximise the users time crawling through.

If you have a website that is neither responsive or mobile friendly and you aren’t planning on changing it then expect your current Google rankings to drop significantly. If you don’t want to lose your spot on Google, then contact us about having your website made responsive.