#MOBILEGEDDON
#mobilegeddon is here. Are you ready?!
Ok, fine. That's a little over-dramatic. But for many websites, today marks a day a lot like a mobile Armageddon for their search rankings on our good friend Google. Why? Google will start a new overhaul of it's famous algorithm to determine if a website is mobile-friendly. And if yours is not... well, you might want to rethink your web design.
Is your website mobile friendly enough for google? Here's the break down of the good, the bad and what it means for your website.
THE GOOD
For you, the mobile-friendly consumer, this is great! Online retailers and larger companies with complex websites will be easy to navigate on a smartphone or tablet. Same goes for online magazine websites like Refinery29 and EOnline. This will ensure that all your have to do is click, click and read everything you ever wanted to know about Kim Kardashian's bleach blonde hair and pregnancy woes.
THE BAD
If you are a small business with a site made even one or two years ago, you may not be ready for #mobilegeddon. According to the Economist, 40% of the leading sites failed Google's "mobile-friendly" test. Ouch. And the result is that those site's search rankings will be dropped. So if your website was on page one of Google when a user searched for "DC area photographer", you may have just been bumped to page two or three. Now you're less likely to get clicked on by your dream client.
NOW WHAT?
So now that you're officially freaking out and creating a algorithm-safe bunker with canned foods and a pile of US Weekly, what can you do? First, determine if you're website is in the clear or not with this test. It will determine if your text is too small or your links and contact information aren't easy to use. If you find your site doesn't pass the Google test, it might be time to rethink your web design. This may mean something as simple are creating a mobile-friendly version of what you already have. It doesn't have to be a full overhaul.
Overall, it's better to know about these Google changes and take it in stride, than to wonder why in the world you suddenly have less page visitors than last week. But if you find your website isn't ready for #mobilegeddon and you just need to be cheered up, you can always turn to these mobile-friendly Kim Kardashian selfies.
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