Web Design, SEO, and Internet Marketing

3 Reasons NOT to Panic About the Google Mobile Website Update

Written by Tony Sova | Apr 21, 2015 10:00:00 PM

Mobile Websites

Well I'm sure by now you've heard all the hoopla about Google punishing websites that aren't mobile friendly.  The situation sort of reminds me of when the big algorithm updates happened in 2012.  There were proclamations of doom and demise for any website that was voilating Google's terms of service for spam.  

Well the aftermath that happened showed a lot of changes but weren't as bad as everyone thought.The first thing that is important to understand is we saw this coming years ago.  It's always been clear that the search engine's purpose is provide the best results for any search.  Even more important, that the results give the best user experience possible.  Without going into all the details it is obvious that if you are using a mobile device and the website isn't responsive the experience isn't optimal.So this is no surprise.  

So now that it's here and your website isn't responsive what should you do?  The first answer is DON"T PANIC!

Web design is constantly evolving and now there is simply a focus on mobile websites.  Here are some important factors to consider when planning for this update.

1. The update will only affect searches on mobile

In other words the wide screen search results will not be affected.

2. We don't know how much of a factor it will be

Google uses over 240 signals to determine who gets ranked first.  We anticipate this is a big factor but nobody really knows how much.

3. There will be further adjustments

This is just another step in the direction that your website needs many more things than just links to it.  The user experience must be optimized to get the best results.


CONCLUSION:

When the dust settles I'm sure things won't be as bad as everyone claims.  Having this sort of propaganda fuels business for internet marketing and firms are taking advantage of it.  If you really want to get answers have a couple of experts look at your website and your internet marketing as a whole.  Then get a better picture of where you are at, what you should plan for, and execute.

As part of our Internet Marketing Analysis report we include a mobile assessment.