Google Keeps Changing the Rules: Websites Must Now Be Mobile-Friendly

Given the thousands of websites out there competing for Google’s page-one ranking, it has become ever so important to understand just what it is that Google is looking for when ranking websites.

First and foremost, the very BEST way to rank high in any search results is to provide good quality and unique content that is relevant to what the searcher is looking for. Think about it for a minute. When you are searching for information, don’t you expect great search results the first time you ask for information? Of course you do... else you would find another search engine to use, right?

Google not only looks at quality and relevant backlinks and comments about a particular website, but apparently Google now leans heavily toward social media to make their decision on ranking, using; tweets, likes and shares as their measure... Google+ being their favourite, of course.

On top of this, as of 21 April 2015, any website that was not considered mobile-friendly had their Google rankings lowered. Google sent out warnings a few months in advance of doing this... and, in case you are rolling your eyes in disbelief, let me add here... Google was NOT joking around.

My hobby website the Proud to be Parr had been ranked with a 4 for several years... well, that is until the 21st of April. The ONLY outstanding mobility issue was my loading web page. All other web pages within this website were using a responsive design.

Because I chose to ignore the warnings and continue with my client’s website issues first, the ranking for my hobby site was dropped down to 3.

Once I had time to tend my hobby website, I simply added a web page with text links only, a page that is to be seen by cell phone users only. Then, on my loading page, I simply added the following JavaScript:

to the page header ...and then I tested the script and page for being mobile-friendly at: https://www.google.ca/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/. Here’s my results:

"Have I recovered my lost ranking?" you ask. Nope! Will I recover the lost ranking for my hobby website? Only time will tell.

Responsive design is an easy solution for most websites. Website design,  management, and SEO are affordable; Shop around local to your business and see for yourself. You need to decide if you want your website to rank on Google page-one search results ...or not.