Early this year Google announced it would be ranking mobile friendly websites higher in their search results. Four months on, we review what impact the changes have had on our clients’ websites…
Leading up to the changes a host of apocalyptic prophecies were doing the rounds, with some web designers even warning your website would disappear from Google if it wasn’t mobile friendly.
So was there an element of truth in this or was it unscrupulous individuals using fear tactics to sell websites?
Similar to the Y2K bug, it seems like the impact has been overblown based on our clients website rankings. Yes mobile friendly websites rank higher, but the difference is 4-5 places, not 40-50 places like some anticipated.
So going back to the original question, does it really matter if your website is mobile friendly?
Well yes it does. While people have focused on the impact of the changes on SEO, they have ignored the reason for the change in the first place – the huge increase in mobile Internet usage.
For the first time people are using their mobiles more than laptops or desktops to browse the Internet.
Although social, news and leisure usage skew these stats, a still significant number of business searches are being made on a mobile.
So the question should be really, do you really want to alienate up to half your visitors by not having a mobile friendly website?
If you’re interested in making your website mobile friendly either via responsive design or a mobile website, please contact us.
