What’s invisible, super powerful, and affects us in Portland as much as people on the other side of the planet? Climate change? No, it’s the Google search algorithm. The most powerful search engine in the world is doing it again: changing the way sites get ranked! Not as bad as climate change by a long shot, but hugely impactful for everyone who relies on search traffic, especially from mobile devices. Roughly 1/3rd of internet traffic now comes from mobile devices (including tablets), so it was already a good idea to have a mobile-friendly site, but with this announcement, it’s even more important.

What It’s About

On April 21st, a Google algorithm change was announced for mobile users, meaning that, when we use Google search on our phones, we’ll see different search engine results on mobile than when we use Google on desktop devices.

How are these results different? Well, for searches coming from mobile devices, Google is now making “mobile-responsiveness” a ranking factor. If a site is mobile-responsive (also known as mobile-friendly), it’ll show up higher in a search performed on a mobile device than a site that isn’t, even if all other factors are the same. As of right now, this doesn’t make a difference when searches are made from desktop and laptop devices, but this may come in the foreseeable future.

What It Means

This is great news for many of our clients who’ve already invested mobile-friendly sites: it means they’ll rank higher than any competitors. But, if you’re concerned that you might not be among them, you can run it through Google’s mobile friendly test, which takes only a couple of minutes. If your site is not mobile friendly, you’ll want to make sure it is before you see a dip in revenue. Even if you’re not yet working with us, we can help you sail through this change. We’ll adapt your existing site to keep you up-to-date and running smoothly!

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