Mobilegeddon: Are You Surviving the Google Update?

Mobilegeddon was enacted on April 21st, 2015. You may not have noticed it, but we did. It means that all our customers who did not have a mobile strategy are now open to being downgraded. Why? Google decided that in this algorithmic update that it would now start to use mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor. Your site may not have changed, your customers might still be able to find you, but as far as Google is concerned, your web presence is not keeping up with the standards. By ranking sites based on whether they are mobile-friendly or not, some sites will end up losing visibility in the Google search engine. This translates to a loss of traffic and Internet exposure that can be as traumatic for some as the apocalypse.

What Makes a Site Mobile-Friendly in Google’s Eyes?

Google’s standards are all about making online content easily searchable, readable, and easy to navigate from a mobile device now. When you think about the screen real estate on a smart phone as compared to desktop personal computer, you can imagine that it may mean that you will need to redesign your website. This may require some knowledge of how Google does the new ranking as well as what designs are mobile-friendly. Consider the following elements when you try to meet the new standards to create a mobile-friendly design for your website:

• Easier Mobile Navigation – Let’s face it, you use your thumbs to navigate a smart phones or one finger at a time. You don’t have the full use of both your hands as with a keyboard. Embedded links can be a nightmare to try to click, particularly when they are in a grouping. Instead, opt for easy buttons that a thumb can click without disturbing other elements on the same page.

• Readability – A smaller screen size makes some fonts not easily readable anymore. Don’t get too fancy or people who stumble on your site on their smart phones may get frustrated that the fonts are hard to read. Stick with easy fonts that are legible from a small screen. Avoid glaring colours on fonts that may not look right from a smart phones screen.

• Flat Design – Those long, unending, one-page web designs are showing up for a reason: They’re mobile-friendly. A flat design that doesn’t create multiple levels is easy to scroll with a big fat thumb. Whether you are scrolling up or down or sideways, it’s a definite improvement from having to click anything.

Will It Pass Moiblegeddon: Mobile Friendly Update from Google?

Even if you think your design is the best of all possible worlds, you still have to make sure Google gives it a passing grade. Luckily, that’s not to hard to do. You can hop on over to the Mobile-Friendly Test set up by Google that will analyse any URL to see if it meets Google’s standards. If it does, you are one step ahead of everyone else who hasn’t taken the needed step to stay current with the newest Google algorithm. What happens if you fail the test? It’s time to call in the experts to get your site revamped before it does any major damage to your Google standing. By talking to us about why your site may have failed, we can redesign it to pass the test.

SMEGoWeb is one such company that can help the clients survive the Mobilegeddon and even thrive afterwards. They have the experience it takes to know how to create mobile-friendly designs that will continue to capture Google’s attention and open your business to a wider exposure with mobile clients on the go.