5 Facts Website Owners Should Know About Mobilegeddon

Everyone by now has heard of Google’s new update, which will give preferential treatment to responsive websites on smart-phones. This impact has been widely labelled as “Mobilegeddon”. With the advance in mobile technology, more and more users are using mobile phones to make lot of searches on the internet. Mobilegeddon, the name given to the Google’s latest update favours responsive websites. If your website is not mobile friendly, you will see a drastic drop in your traffic.

Here is everything you need to know about Mobilegeddon:

1. Smart-Phones impacted majorly

Google’s new algorithm won’t directly affect the search results on tablets and desktops. Considering that mobile is responsible for half of Google searches, it is still going to be a huge impact overall.

2. Website Operators were informed long back

Generally Google doesn’t announce its algorithm in advance. Since Mobilegeddon would have a massive impact on the mobile search results, Google decided to pre-announce it to give businesses time to get prepared. In the month of February, a mobile friendly test was released by the search company to check if the sites are ready for the update. Mobile websites with blocked image files, slow mobile pages and unplayable videos will be knocked down.

3. Websites can adjust on the fly

In this algorithm of Google, websites can upgrade their mobile-friendliness at any given time to appear higher in the search results. Google has also mentioned that the algorithm tweaks would be rolled out over the course of few weeks.

4. Algorithm changes might get nasty

To gain traffic to their websites, many businesses depend largely on Google as it controls a large market. When Google changes its code, companies go haywire to optimize their websites as per the new update. Getting the top spot in search engine has utmost importance since it attracts 20-30% of the page’s clicks. The second position generates 5-10% clicks and the posts below that get far lesser traffic.

5. Certain unresponsive websites still get favourable search placement

The algorithm of Google judges websites based on numerous criteria, out of which being responsive is one. The aim of the company is to generate the most relevant results even if it is to a site which isn’t responsive.

Have a look at key points that mobile sites need to address:

• Ensure all your content is playable on smart phones, as the format of the videos will affect the site.
• Rectify your links and ensure that the mobile site is not directing the users to a page formatted for desktop.
• The links should be easily clickable and not be close together.
• When users visit a mobile site, prompt them to visit the app instead.