Having A Mobile-friendly Website Will Affect Your SEO Rankings

If the writing wasn’t on the wall before, well now it officially is. Google has said that as of April 21, 2015, websites that are not mobile-friendly will have an impact from a Search Engine Optimization and it will officially affect your website rankings online. There is a reason why the SEO company (at least any good one) has been telling you that you need to take mobile seriously if you haven’t already been or planning to. According to a recent ComScore report issued in Q4 2014, mobile searches and traffic have outpaced desktop’s officially. The reason is really simple, everyone wants convenience and not everyone can afford a desktop computer with Internet access in their home. Before we go any deeper, what is a mobile-friendly website? A mobile-friendly website is a website that automatically adjusts according to the device it is being accessed from. In this case, if your website is being accessed from a mobile phone for example, it needs to automatically adjust on a users mobile screen without panning or zooming. The Search Engine Optimization company you work with will more than likely be able to help you or advise on how you can get your website to become mobile friendly if you haven’t already done so.

Back in 2010, when some analysts predicted the boom of the mobile-phone, some people that it was naïve or even borderline crazy. Today, that has completely changed as Google the largest search engine in the world has clearly said that by not having a mobile-ready website, it will affect your Search Engine Optimization rankings which clearly shows how important it has become. Mobile has officially become the 800 pound gorilla in the room that can no longer be ignored. If you don’t have a mobile-friendly website or are not in the process of getting on or even addressing this issues, you are really crazy. All the Search Engine Optimization companies or agencies including us at Mind Digital are not surprised by this official announcement. We have been theorizing as well as unofficially telling clients that we believe it is a ranking factor and by Google officially announcing it, we are relieved but not surprised at all.

A country such as India where not everyone can afford a desktop, a smartphone or an Internet-enabled phone is cheap as well as accessible to everyone. An Internet-enable phone for example will cost you as low as 50 dollars and you can gain Internet access via the many pre-paid or post-paid options from your local phone service provider. Internet access has become super-cheap and accessible to anyone no matter how much money they make or what social class they are in. Easy accessibility is absolutely essential and an Internet-enabled phone allows you to access the Internet easier than ever thought possible. Whether it’s the best restaurant locally to find or even the latest movie to go see with your wife or a holiday destination review, an Internet-enabled phone allows you to get information at your fingertips no matter where you are. Logically, if so much ease is being provided to consumers, they will access information from their mobile devices and you therefore need to give them a mobile-friendly browsing experience. From the perspective of an SEO company or really any digital agency for that matter, having a mobile-friendly website is an absolute must in todays interconnected world.

Another huge proponent or reason why the mobile Internet world has taken off so dramatically is Social Media. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram are just some of the reasons why the mobile world as a whole has taken off dramatically. From people checking in on Facebook at a hotel to Tweeting about an experience with a product or Instagramming a photo of themselves on vacation with family, Social Media is a huge catapult factor of the mobile-enabled world. As a result, when people have an Internet-enabled device, they will use it for other things naturally. Therefore, the use of a mobile phone will be natural and as a result people will access information websites from their mobile devices. These above reasons and logic are just some of the reasons why the mobile Internet has exploded and is something that can no longer be ignored.

Summary
It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee as the saying goes. If you don’t have a mobile website, you are doing a dis-service to yourself, your users and your business. Not only will it affect your SEO rankings or make the life of your SEO company more difficult to try to get you to rank if you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, you can drop in your current Google rankings. No one officially knows how much of an actual impact it will really have on your website rankings but if Google is officially telling you, it is something that can no longer be procrastinated or quite frankly ignored. A mobile-friendly website and your SEO rankings now officially go hand in hand. If you have a website or are looking to get one developed, ensure it is mobile-friendly and If you are looking for a company to help you become mobile-friendly, please feel free to reach out to the team at Mind Digital for any of your development or digital marketing needs.