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Google’s New Mobile-Friendly Algorithm

Mobile has inevitably become a powerful resource for users all around the world. With 80% of internet searches coming from mobile devices, it is extremely important for businesses to accommodate visitors and make their websites mobile-friendly. Making an even stronger argument as to why companies should make websites easily accessible via mobile, is Google’s plan to implement a new mobile-friendly algorithm that will take mobile-friendliness into its ranking consideration. If you are looking to rank highly or increase your rankings, ensuring the strength of your mobile website is a must.

According to the Google Webmaster Central Blog, beginning on April 21, google pigeonGoogle will officially begin “expanding [their] use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal”. With this change, Google will aim to further its main goal, ensuring a better user experience. By taking mobile-friendliness into consideration within its ranking algorithm, Google is adapting to the growing number of mobile users and working toward making their experience as seamless and as easy as possible. Pigeon, Google’s most recent algorithm update, saw great success in its ability to improve the quality and relevance of local search results, many of which were made on mobile devices. With the expectation of finding the same amount of success as the Pigeon update, Google hopes that by targeting mobile and making user experience the top priority, companies will work toward upholding the same expectation and adapt to creating mobile-friendly websites.

Google has decided to wait until April 21 to implement this new algorithm in order to give businesses an opportunity to make the necessary changes to their websites to become more mobile friendly. We recommend that companies take action in order to assure that when Google applies the new algorithm, your rankings do not suffer.

First, start by auditing your sites mobile-friendliness to see how your website currently stands in line with Google’s requirements. Google offers a free tool for assessing mobility of a website, as noted below. Next, make the necessary changes and continue to implement proper SEO and SEM strategies. Making a mobile-friendly site will not only benefit search rankings, within Google’s new algorithm, it will also provide users with a better experience and potentially lead to increased conversions. If you are still unsure how to best create a mobile-friendly website or what it means to be mobile-friendly, take a look at these helpful tools directly from Google:

–          Learn how to start your mobile friendly site with Google’s guide to a mobile-friendly site

–          Test existing pages with Google’s Mobile Friendly Test

–          Use your Webmaster Tools account to access mobile usability issues on your own site with                      Google’s Mobile Usability Report

With mobile being at the forefront of internet searches today, make sure to update and make your website as mobile-friendly as possible using these tools before April 21. Implementing this change will help your overall ranking as well as create a better user experience for your visitors.