If you are a website or blog owner who has yet to transition your website to a mobile friendly website version, now is most certainly the time. In an unprecedented move, Google shared that as of April 21, 2015 a new algorithm would be released that would reward mobile friendly websites. This announcement was made in February of 2015, with the intention of providing blog and website owners enough time to update their websites prior to what we now know as “Mobilegeddon.” The algorithm is now in effect, so if you have yet to convert to a mobile friendly website, or have a few questions about the algorithm change—the questions below should help.
Will Your Desktop Ranking Be Affected?
The good news is, if you have yet to upgrade to a mobile friendly website, your desktop page rank will not be affected. In fact, browsing on notebooks will still garner the same search results as desktops. That being said, if you take a look at your analytics over the last 12 months, you are sure to see a spike in your smartphone web visitors. The desire to find businesses, products, and services on mobile devices will do nothing but continue to grow—meaning that even if your desktop page rank is high, that your mobile page rank may soon be much lower if you have not made the change.
How Can You Tell If Your Website Is Mobile Friendly?
This is an excellent question, because even if you have mobile responsive web design—Google does not always recognize your website, or all of the pages on your website, as mobile. In order to ensure that you meet Google’s mobile criteria, take their Mobile Friendly Test here. https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
How Long Will It Take For Google To Recognize A Website As Mobile Friendly?
After you upgrade to a mobile friendly website, Google will begin to recognize your upgrade almost immediately. This differs from many of Google’s other algorithms, which take time to index. Some find that the mobile algorithm acknowledges them within a couple hours, but no longer than 72 hours after the mobile changes have been made.
Will Everyone Be Affected By This Change?
Google’s new mobile algorithm is designed for core web search results. What this means is that it will not impact vertical searches, local search results, news, or videos. The algorithm will not impact AdWords campaigns, although AdWords for mobile is designed to meet the needs of mobile consumers. One search group that is not likely to be impacted by the changes, are major brands who have yet to go completely mobile. The reason the algorithm is not likely to impact them, is because they already have such a high level of both specific and organic searches on mobile devices.
The questions that have yet to be answered, is what the impact will be for those who are not yet mobile friendly (meaning – you and your website) as well as how high the reward is for those who are complying. Either way, you must keep a close eye on your mobile web browsing, as well as your mobile page rank to see how the algorithm is affecting your website.
If you do not already have Google Analytics set up, we can certainly help and provide a detailed overview of you current website with upgrade suggestions.
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