Is Your Website Ready?
Is Your Website Ready for Google's Mobile Search Algorithm Update - From April 21st?
Google has released a new algorithmic update that weighs mobile-friendliness as a search engine ranking signal. This update penalizing websites that are not mobile-friendly, resulting in significant drops to their overall traffic. The algorithm's potential to negatively impact traffic and conversions means that updating your website to be mobile-friendly is absolutely crucial. .
Now, you may be wondering what makes a website mobile-friendly, so here are some of the main components:
- Responsive design (content adjusts to the screen size so that users don’t need to scroll horizontally or zoom)
- No software that is incompatible with mobile devices (e.g. Flash)
- Properly-spaced links that can be clicked easily
- Accessible and legible text
These are just a few of the many factors that Google will consider.
You can always can self evaluate by taking this quiz to see if your site is ready to perform with the new updates!
Mobile-Friendly Website Self Evaluation
Disclaimer: This is a quick and easy test and not designed to be a full rendering of all mobile friendly factors.
1. Is your website "responsive"?
Open your website in a new desktop window. Adjust the window so that it's almost taking up the whole screen. Now, grab the right or left side of the window & pull it over towards the opposite side so that the window is now tall and skinny. Does the content move & adjust with the size of the window?
Answer Should Be "Yes". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
2. Have you programmed phone numbers on your mobile site so that users can simply tap the number to call? "click to call" links
Answer Should Be "Yes". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
3. When looking at your resized screen, would your links be spaced out well enough on a mobile device?
Links need to be far enough apart so that a mobile user can click on a link without accidentally clicking on another link, or without having to zoom in.
Answer Should Be "Yes". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
4. Have you submitted a mobile sitemap?
A mobile XML sitemap will differ from your website's sitemap if you have specifically programmed a mobile version of your website (aka a separate mobile design).
Answer Should Be "Yes". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
5. Open the following Google URL and Enter your website to check it. What color was your score?
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
Answer Should Be "Green". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
6. Does your website use any flash or large animation?
Answer Should Be "No". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
7. When looking at that same resized screen, would your text be legible & large enough on a mobile device so that users could read it without zooming in?
Answer Should Be "Yes". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
8. Have you added responsive styling elements to all embedded media on your site - including videos and maps?
Answer Should Be "Yes". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
9. Are your images set to a particular size or a percentage?
<img width="800px"> vs. <img width="100%">
Answer Should Be "Percentage". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
10. Does your mobile design include a "view full site" option?
Answer Should Be "Yes". (If not, feel free to contact us, Yes, We can fix it!)
If you need help setting up any of these features, We would be happy to help you prepare for the Google algorithm update. All of our websites are designed to be mobile- friendly and optimized for an enjoyable user experience. Of course, we will also provide you with high quality content and make sure your website is well-indexed and ranked by search engines.
Give Me a call and get started today!!
(+94) 766114407
The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery