Changes in Importance of Mobile Searches
On April 21st, 2015 Google introduced a significant search algorithm change dubbed “Mobilegeddon” which meant that websites that were responsive (mobile and tablet friendly) began receiving a positive signal when compared to their non-responsive peers in search results. This announcement caused website operators who hadn’t already taken the step to seek help in making their websites mobile friendly and IQComputing’s Saint Louis web design services were applied to upgrade numerous websites for customers who wanted to ensure that they weren’t caught behind.
Now, close to two years later, Google has announced another huge change which will affect websites that appear in its search results and, while it doesn’t have a witty name like “Mobilegeddon,” its impact could be just as important.
In the coming months, Google will start separating its mobile and desktop search indexes. This means that when you search from your mobile device, the search engine will start displaying results strictly based on the mobile index and not a mixture of both mobile and desktop – which is how it has operated in the past.
If this change tells us anything, it’s that the use of mobile phones and devices are quickly and surely becoming the most used medium to conduct searches among certain industries or user profiles, well surpassing traditional desktop/laptop-based browser searches. Google is demonstrating its thought process through this new update in that users are utilizing mobile devices more and more, and they are jumping out ahead of the curve to transition us into this age of on-the-go information connectivity.
Because the mobile and desktop search results will be separate from each other, a website that appears in the number two position for desktop searches might not even appear on the first page for a mobile search, which is why it is essential to realize the need for a fully native responsive website.
What You Can Do
The first step in preparing for an update of this nature is ensuring that your website is fully responsive. If you are unsure of this, you can use Google’s mobile friendly test which can provide side-by-side scores for desktop and mobile versions of your website.
If your site has failed to pass this test or if you’re not happy with your scores, contact IQComputing, a St. Louis website design and development firm to help retrofit your site so that it is natively responsive (you won’t have to rely on a separate mobile site).
If you’re curious about your own website’s mobile traffic and how it compares to desktop traffic, you can easily find out by logging into your Google Analytics account and checking the data. Don’t have a Google Analytics account set up for your website? We would be happy to assist in setting one up so that you can start tracking vital visitor analytics data.