Mobile-Friendly and Responsive Websites Get SEO Ranking Boost from Google

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Mobile-friendly website SEO results in GoogleThe organic search engine world is abuzz with the latest upcoming game changing rollout by Google on April 21, 2015 which will have an impact on organic search engine results.

If you haven’t heard about it already, Google is using its powerful weight as a technology, user, and security evangelist to encourage the adoption of mobile-friendly technologies such as responsive web design. This doesn’t mean that the world needs to go out and get new websites but rather that you need to strongly consider making your existing website mobile-friendly if it isn’t already. On the aforementioned date in April, Google will be rolling out a worldwide update that will give preference to mobile-friendly and responsive websites in mobile search results.

In the upcoming “mobilegeddon” event (not a term coined by IQComputing but warranted given the importance of this event on searches), each page of your website will be individually evaluated as to its ability to display content for devices such as smartphones. In other words, even though minor pages are responsive, if important pages don’t pass the mobile-friendly gauntlet, they will be affected by this rollout. As one of the best St. Louis WordPress developer companies in Missouri, we take an integrated approach to making our modern websites responsive such that you don’t have to take any extra steps to do this on your part.

The Impact of Mobile-Friendly Websites in Search Results

Previously Google’s mobile-friendly suggestions have been largely treated as suggestions or recommendations however it’s now time to take this seriously. Your website won’t just drop off the face of the organic search engine earth forever but it’s very important to consider that all things being the same, your competitors will likely gain an advantage if their websites are responsive and your website continues to deliver the full desktop experience to their browsers whenever your same pool of potential customers search for terms where your websites are returned. For quite some time now Google has taken to denoting websites as “Mobile-friendly” on smartphones but this has largely been a visual/user benefit rather than something with actual SEO implications.  The point to focus on here is that the search engine update takes the entire results display to a whole new level with real-world implications that could bump your website down from its current position in search engine results.

How to Tell If Your Website is Mobile-Friendly or Responsive

One of the quickest ways to check and see if your website is considered mobile-friendly by Google is to use their own tool (Google Mobile Test). While just a simple test, this is a quick way to test your website aside beyond using emulators or dragging your desktop/laptop browser’s browser frame. We’ve seen some customers use JavaScript-based “mobile site” solutions which are not generally considered to be mobile-friendly by search engines since this involves a redirection based on a browser sniffer to a site that often doesn’t meet the criteria for a true mobile website.  Don’t get caught in this marketing gimmick because your website should be inherently mobile-friendly and should not depend on third party subscription services to deliver content adapted to smartphones and tablets.

Make My Website Responsive

While we have been promoting the benefits of mobile-friendly websites for quite some time now, with the obsolescence of past browsers which struggled with dynamic mobile technologies (such as media queries which are used to help create the mobile experience on the fly), this move by Google is extremely important to the success of websites in search as it reinforces our approach to the website user experience. The in-house St. Louis web design team can make your existing website responsive or take any older website to retrofit it with a new design and a mobile-friendly experience.  Contact us today to get started with a plan to make your website responsive as soon as possible!

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