Google Puts Mobile First

You’ve heard it before: Mobile Websites are essential for any business. Not only is

this true, but sometimes this important aspect of your business is overlooked. Excuses

such as “I’ll take care of it later”, or “Mobile is just a passing fad”, are going to get you

in trouble and allow your competition to swoop in with better SEO rankings. Google

recognizes the importance of Mobile Websites, and if Google is giving you a hint about

what they want, you better not be ignoring their suggestions.

What if we told you that by not having a mobile-friendly website, Google would lower

your site’s SEO ranking? We all know that traffic to websites come from Search Engine

Optimization (SEO). The lower your SEO, the lower the traffic will be to your website.

A number of business owners (your competitors!) have caught onto the importance of

a mobile website and SEO, but there are still many businesses out there ignoring this

key element of their business. Google developers have put together

recommendations to businesses/webmasters for Building Mobile-Optimized Websites.

Google has also put together a list of Common Mistakes in Smartphone Sites that we

advise you review. Typically, consumers will only wait 5 seconds for a mobile

webpage to load before they abandon the site. Follow Google’s recommendations, or

book an appointment with a Mobile Marketing Expert, to ensure your site loads in a

timely fashion.

An excerpt taken from Google’s Webmaster Central Blog:

“Some websites use separate URLs to serve desktop and smartphone users. A faulty redirect is when a desktop page

redirects smartphone users to an irrelevant page on the smartphone-optimized website. A typical example is when all

pages on the desktop site redirect smartphone users to the homepage of the smartphone-optimized site.

This kind of redirect disrupts a user's workflow and may lead them to stop using the site and go elsewhere. Even if the user doesn't abandon the site, irrelevant redirects add more work for them to handle, which is particularly troublesome when they're on slow mobile networks. These faulty redirects frustrate users whether they're looking for a webpage, video, or something else, and our ranking changes will affect many types of searches.

Avoiding irrelevant redirects is very easy: Simply redirect smartphone users from a desktop page to its equivalent smartphone-optimized page. If the content doesn't exist in a smartphone-friendly format, showing the desktop content is better than redirecting to an irrelevant page.” While this is simple very few mobile website platforms are capable of handling this redirect so even if you have a mobile website, it may not be adhering to this important element that is critical in the eyes of Google.

Have questions? This is an important area of business that not many understand. We invite you to Book an Appointment with a Mobile Marketing Expert to learn more.

All the best!

Pam Lehr & Team

www.GoMobileMediaMarketing.com | info@GoMobileMediaMarketing.com | 1-888-544-4639 |

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