Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

If not, your Google ranking is in big trouble.

Not to be alarmist, but this is arguably the biggest change in Search in years. And you, the business owner, must comply if you want to be a player in the digital marketplace.  Beginning in April 2015, Google began to crack down on websites that don’t display well on mobile phones or on tablets. And by crack down, we mean that your search engine ranking can drop dramatically overnight.¹ 

At Fresh Focus Group, all our websites include a mobile version, absolutely imperative for good SEO (search engine optimization). Called mobile responsive design, it’s a website that changes size according to the size of the screen on which it is being displayed. Page elements are automatically converted, resized, and lined up in such a way that it’s as easy to view your website on a smaller device as on a 44 inch monitor. And it’s a bonus feature included in every marketing website we build.

Need a more technical explanation? This is how Google defines responsive web design:

“Responsive web design (RWD) is a setup where the server always sends the same HTML code to all devices and CSS is used to alter the rendering of the page on the device. Google’s algorithms should be able to automatically detect this setup if all Googlebot user agents are allowed to crawl the page and its assets (CSS, JavaScript, and images).” Source: Google

Why Not Build a Separate Mobile Website on a Different Platform?

We used to offer a choice more often.

But much like in other technology wars, two competing ways of doing the same thing eventually settled into one preferred method. Why is it that a responsive website is today’s preferred mobile solution for most businesses?

• The first reason is Simplicity. With WordPress marketing websites, the content management system allows you to make content changes yourself, if you want to, without the help of a developer. In a responsive website, those changes are automatically applied to the tablet and mobile versions also. And this solution works for most businesses today.

• Another reason is Cost. As a business owner, you don’t have the extra cost of design, development, hosting, and content updates on two or three alternate website platforms. One responsive website handles it all, regardless of the size of the viewing screen, auto-magically!

• There are others, but perhaps the most important reason is for good SEO. With one website, you have one website address instead of multiples. When you make SEO improvements on your one-and-only website, that strengthens your ranking on every size device because the URL is exactly the same.

What Can You Do with My Current Website?

We can safeguard you from what the industry is calling ‘Mobilgeddon’, regardless of your situation.

If you love your current website, but it isn’t mobile-friendly, we can usually convert it. Let us port your content into a WordPress website with a responsive theme. You’ll get all the benefits from your SEO efforts across all viewing devices, and you’ll avoid a downgrade in your Google ranking. Most of the time, we can duplicate your design so the branding and overall look remains the same. But hurry! Google began deeper cuts in mid-2016.² 

Don’t be left behind. Let us build your mobile-responsive marketing website today. Give us a call.

 

Did you know? 84% of 13-17 year olds own a mobile phone. 83% of 6-9 year olds use a tablet. (CMO Council)

For more information straight from Google about what the industry is calling ‘Mobilegeddon’, see these articles:

¹  https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2015/04/rolling-out-mobile-friendly-update.html

²  https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/03/continuing-to-make-web-more-mobile.html