You can ask almost anyone if they have heard the news about google and mobile ready websites and nearly 3 out of 5 will have seen it all over the news or on their “smartphone”. As of today, April 21st, Google has changed their algorithm for ranking websites on mobile devices. The mobile friendly website design Top 5 Tips to see if you are compliant is look on your iPhone see if you can read the words. Number 1, Google wants your words to be bigger so you don’t have to pinch and expand the words. This is probably one of the biggest things important to Google. They want you to have a good experience.Number 2, if you content fits inside your smart phone windows. The content has to fit in your window of your smartphone if you hold your phone upright or horizontal. Number 3, if you see your links are too close together that is a red flag. When you typing with your fingers, some people with big fingers like myself, hit too many things around the intended link. Google expects the user to be able to hit links easily and not have to hit their back arrow, because they hit the wrong link. Number 4, is if you have a mobile viewport installed on your website. What is that? When you use your mobile device and it looks like your desktop view then it likely isn’t redesigned for mobile use. The view that you should see on your site needs to be easy to read left to right and vertically. The content should have an easy navigation box and content should flow smoothly top to bottom. And finally number 5, to see if you have a mobile friendly website, is if the functionality of your website is working accurately on your smartphone. All the functions, navigation, videos and maps need to be displaying correctly and working properly.
Google is trying to make it more friendly for the user’s experience and if Google delivers the user good content then they are more likely to keep the user experience positive. This means, sell more ads, convert the surfers “surfing” experience into a sale on a customers website. Google is very focused, as well as all search engines, on the “local” information. Most people using their smartphone are likely using it for a local bit of information. Not always, but they are shopping and looking for better prices, searching for businesses or often looking for directions. This is why a business’s address in their contact information is very important.
Why is this important to have a mobile friendly website? Ultimately it is to keep your page rank high on Google. When you are surfing on your smartphone locally and you looking for some specific information, Google is going to serve up websites that look good. Ultimately, that means they are going to give Mobile Friendly website better ranking than others. So, see if you have a mobile friendly website and if not get yours updated today.