In the collection of search engine optimization strategies available to companies none are growing faster in terms of importance than mobile friendliness in websites. Leading the charge behind the significance of mobile platforms, Google has found that in the United States “94% of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones; additionally 77% of mobile searches occur at home or at work, places where desktop computers are likely to be present 1”. Furthering the mobile revolution Google has even tweaked their search engine algorithm to favor search rankings towards web-pages that meet their mobile friendly index standards. Overlooked features publishers must account for include the smaller screen sizes, increased use of finger tapping, and slower load time for mobile devices. To test any URL Google has provided their own tool to determine which web-pages meet their requirements: Google Mobile-Friendly Test 2.
Example of UtahRealEstate.com awkward functionality in comparison with Zillow:
What Google’s market altering algorithm change has taught us is that merely having an online existence isn’t enough to capture the attention and devotion of the youngest generation of consumers. Tailoring your SEO strategy towards the inevitable millennial imposed “Mobilegeddon” will help companies remain relevant and capture the set of customers with the most lucrative lifetime value. Providing the new generation of consumers with a seamless mobile platform starts with making your website function with equivalent content and functionality as the desktop web-page. Preparing for mobile-first indexing requires additional development to mirror structured data that occurs on your web-page as well as allowing Google’s web crawler software access to JavaScript, CSS, image files and alt-text. Once your mobile site fulfills Google’s sorting and reading requirements only then will you be able to achieve an optimal search engine ranking. To avoid other common mishaps associated with achieving the best possible visibility I’d recommend checking out Google’s common mistakes guide for mobile SEO3.
Consumers want mobile pages that provide a positive search-friendly experience. Everyone uses their smartphone for daily communication, searching for information, and even for P2P and B2C transactions. If user experience on the desktop varies widely from the smartphone interface it’s nearly guaranteed your ranking and total number of visitors will plummet due to poor mobile friendliness. Frustrating end users with content that is hard to read or navigate is likely to benefit competing URLs looking to gain the advantage in terms of impressions. A study from The Art of SEO coauthor Eric Enge revealed that following Google’s “Mobilegeddon” non-mobile friendly sites saw declines of 12% in web traffic 4. Not only will unplayable flash video demote you in Google’s rankings it will cost you a shot at converting a visitor into a buyer.
Plain and simple, if you are still catching up to the mobile friendly trend set by Google you will soon be left in the dust. As Patrick Reinhart from the Search Engine Journal puts it, “If you aren’t mobile-friendly, you aren’t allow to hang out here anymore! 5” Considering that a lion share of users are coming to websites via mobile devices it’s clear that’s Google’s algorithm change is here to stay.
Works Cited
Google, Google, developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/common-mistakes.
Enge, Eric. “Mobilegeddon: Nearly 50% of Non-Mobile Friendly URLs Dropped in Rank.” Stone Temple, 25 Jan. 2017, www.stonetemple.com/mobilegeddon-may-have-been-bigger-than-we-thought/.
“Mobile Search Moments Study.” Google, Google, www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/creating-moments-that-matter/.
“Mobile-Friendly Test.” Google Search Console, Google, search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly.
Reinhart, Patrick. “Mobilegeddon: A Complete Guide to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Update.” Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Journal, 15 May 2018,
www.searchenginejournal.com/google-algorithm-history/mobile-friendly-update/#close.
-Cole Dixon