Google’s Mobile Friendly Algorithm Release April 21, 2015212304

It has been a long time since Google rocked the internet like it will do on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. The ecommerce world had a hint of what was coming. Late in 2014, Google sent hundreds of thousands of websites a mobile warning to go mobile or loose SEO value.

“When Google introduced its mobile-friendly site criteria late last year it was indicated that it may be used as a ranking signal for the search algorithms in the future. Perhaps these warnings are an indication that Google intends to roll out a mobile-friendly algorithm update sooner than we all thought.” Search Engine Journal.

Starting April 21st, Google “will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide, and will have a significant impact in our search results.”

Google warned the web design industry that this was coming for the last 3 – 4 years. Starting April 21, mis-configured mobile sites will suffer ranking penalties, based on load time, text size, and viewport.

Shopping carts will probably be hit hardest. Shopping carts do not support Google’s Webmaster tools. There is no way to install the HTML file in the root folder.

What Does it Mean for Small Business Websites? If you can access Google webmaster tools, your website is probably all right. Google is telling webmasters what needs to be fixed.

If your website is mobile, you might even see your ranking positions increase in organic traffic from mobile sources. As the mobile traffic grows, and mobile search explodes, lost ranking positions will mean lost sales and revenue. The good and bad news is that your site doesn’t need to be responsive to pass Google’s mobile update. But not being responsive will still cost you sales.

April 21st is next week - What Can I Do? Google Webmaster Tools

The short answer is ‘do not panic’. Google will not crawl every website, in the entire web, in a single day. It may take months as the algorithm unfolds over time. The best small business strategy is to create a solid plan of action that involves incorporating Google Webmaster Tools, then following Google’s mobile suggestions. Compress Images

Compress your images so that they load faster. Do not use jpegs, which have a lot of extra information embedded into the image.

Move to Mobile Friendly Platforms Get away from ‘hosted software sites.’ This includes shopping carts you sign in, or that you drag and drop to make your website. A good rule of thumb, if you cannot pack up your website and move it to any host you want then it is probably on a hosted software site.

Last, keep your site simple. Stay away from fancy scripts and gimmicks that are not mobile friendly. These websites may say they are mobile friendly. They may have templates that look good on cell phones, but they load slow. The software is often out of date. The templates rarely use HTML5. And because the sites are on overloaded servers, using old software, the odds that these sites will be updated is very low.

Webmaster for Hire is an international web design and internet marketing company. If you'd like more tips and information on online optimization, visit http://www.webmasterforhire.us/blog/.

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