Is your website/blog mobile friendly? If not, here is a big news for you that will make you start making changes on your site in coming days.
Google announced, mobile friendly site is an official ranking factor and from 21st April 2015, it will be a ranking signal. This news came as no surprise because mobile usage is increasing day by day, and having a mobile optimised site gives a better user experience when your site is access via smartphone or smaller screen devices. According to one report. by 2017 mobile phone users are likely to reach 5.13 billion users globally.
Mobile friendly website will get higher ranking:
In the official announcement over here, Google mentioned that mobile-friendliness is now an official search engine ranking factor. On 21st April this ranking signal will impact search results which will affect all languages worldwide and get ready to see a significant search engine changes in coming days.
If your website/blog is not mobile-friendly, you still have a chance to work on your site and offer a mobile friendly version of site. WordPress blogger can easily implement mobile friendly version of their site with the help of Jetpack plugin or WP Touch plugin.
If you want to retain the branding of your blog, I would recommend you to offer a mobile specific design of your site. (Check www.shoutmeloud.com on your smartphone browser to understand what I’m talking about).
- For now, you can check your mobile friendliness using this official tool by Google.
- If your website is mobile friendly, you should check mobile usability issues across your site using Google Webmaster tool.
How to check mobile usability issues using Google Webmaster tool?
If you are logged into your Google account, head over to this link and select your site to see the mobile usability issues. Or login to your site webmaster tool dashboard, and click on search traffic > Mobile usability to see all existing issues on your mobile version of the site. Below you can see report from one of my site:
Clicking on any usability error will show you the pages on your website with that error. This is a good way to start looking for usability issues on your mobile friendly sites.
Mobile App indexing – App Content in Search results
Along with mobile site getting higher ranking, Google also announced about the app indexing and showing content from the app to the users. This ranking factor is already live and in this, signed-in users will see results from the apps they have installed on their device. Provided, developer have implemented app indexing for the app.
If you are a blogger or an Android app developer, make sure you implement app indexing in your app. You can find details here to implement app indexing in your Android app. If you already have your blog app in Google play store, follow instructions here to verify your site for your app.
Note: ShoutMeLoud Android app is currently not deep-indexing enabled, and I will be rolling out an updated version of the app with the app indexing support. Also new app will have comment feature enabled.
The Ball is in your court now: Take action
It was not surprise or brainer that mobile friendly site is a need of time. Depending upon platform you are using, you should implement a solution to serve mobile friendly site. Don’t just limit to offer mobile friendly site and do consider other factors such as speed, conversion and monetisation.
Since mobile usage is increasing every-day, you should ensure that your mobile version of site also adds revenue stream in your pocket. If you are a blogger, I recommend you to also create an Android app for your blog, as now search engine results will be different for people who have mobile app installed from your competitor or other sites. Sooner you start, you will have an extra edge over others. You can take advantage of ShoutMeLoud service to get an android app for your blog.
So what are your plans to tackle upcoming mobile friendliness search engine ranking factor? Are you already offering mobile friendly site or it’s in your to-do list. If you are blogging on WordPress platform, I would love to know what solution are you taking to offer mobile version of your site?
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