Smartphones vs Dumbsites, Google’s ‘mobile-friendly’ Algorithm Update

Mark your calendars. Set your clocks! Doomsday April 21, 2015. Are you ready for ZMOT?

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

It’s time to take a gander at what Google Analytics says about the overall mobile traffic to your Website. Check the stats under Audience > Mobile > Overview and look at the breakdown of desktop/mobile/tablet. Google has been paying close attention to these stats since 2011. On April 21, 2015 the next Google algorithm update may cause a seismic shift in their search engine results pages (SERPs).

This moment-of-truth has been coming by degrees for quite some time. In November 2014, Google added a “mobile-friendly” label to the SERP listings for qualifying sites. Google explains, “A page is eligible for the ‘Mobile-friendly’ label if it meets the following criteria as detected by Googlebot:

  • Website software that’s compatible with mobile (so no Flash, for example)
  • Large, readable text without zooming
  • Content automatically resizes to fit the screen (so you don’t have to scroll horizontally)
  • Large links with plenty of space between each so they are easily tapped

On February 26, 2015 Google dropped the other shoe: “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.”

One of the easiest ways to see if your Website will suffer a ranking loss after the algorithm update is to check it at Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test site. At DesignWise Studios, all of the sites we design are mobile-friendly…

DesignWise websites are all mobile-friendly

Mark your calendars. Doomsday April 21, 2015. Are you ready for ZMOT?

Posted by DesignWise Studios of Door County on Friday, April 10, 2015

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