Mobile-Friendly Isn’t Just a Choice Anymore
You probably have already heard that Google was going to give preference to mobile sites. Although they threatened months ago, and you didn’t see a difference, they have gone and done it. The change is being rolled out slowly, so you might not see it yet – and you my see a lot of volatility on Google results now; and probably rarely on your desktop or laptop. They decided to put mobile friendly sites first where the most people search – on mobile devices. Google is always trying to list the most relevant sites and ones that can be easily navigated on a mobile device makes them more relevant to the user.
Why is mobile so important now?
- 74% of visitors were more likely to return to mobile friendly websites
- 61% were likely to leave if a site wasn’t mobile friendly
- 67% were more likely to buy at a mobile friendly website
If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing business. Pure and simple.
Just because you can see a site on a phone doesn’t make it mobile friendly. It must re-arrange itself and conform to the mobile experience. Having an app will not help. Likewise, having a separately built mobile site will only help some because if the content is different, you might be missing the things Google loved you for in the first place.
Here are three reasons you must have a mobile-friendly website now:
1. It’s What Your Customers Want – and They Expect You to Provide It
Increasingly, your customers are not sitting front of desktops or laptops. Instead, they’re on the go, and they’re accessing your website from their mobile devices. If you don’t give customers what they want (easy visibility and navigation), they’ll go someplace else.
So how do you go about creating a mobile-friendly site? Don’t try to simply “tweak” your existing website to try to make it so. Traditional websites don’t display well on mobile phones and Google will not consider them mobile-friendly. You need a site made to adjust and display differently on mobile sites – a responsive site.
That doesn’t mean you should ignore those customers who still use desktops and laptops, though. They still account for a significant portion of your customer base and new prospects.
Change Your Standard Website to a Responsive Website
A responsive website recognizes the device being used (laptop, PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.) and will resize itself accordingly for optimal viewing. You’ll be able to accommodate mobile and PC/laptop users alike. If your website looks the same, but smaller, it’s not mobile friendly.
2. Google May Penalize You if You Don’t Have a Mobile Friendly Website
It’s true, and there’s a reason for that. Google recognizes that you don’t need a computer to surf the Internet. Many sites, however, still use content, images, and navigation structures that just don’t work well on mobile devices.
Users can only see those websites properly using a desktop or laptop monitor or screen, and smartphone browsers end up with a very unsatisfying user experience.
Why does it matter to Google? Because if a particular website isn’t mobile friendly, Google will recognize that and be less likely to display it as a legitimate search result. Google wouldn’t be doing its job if half the results displayed were useless to mobile users. Google’s goal is to increase search traffic, including mobile search traffic, and you can use that to your benefit by jumping on board.
3. You’ll Lose Business (If You Haven’t Already)
You’ve probably already have a decline in business if you still use only a standard website. If not, go mobile friendly before you do. Most aren’t yet completely ditching their desktops or laptops for their mobile devices, but an increasing number are.
Give your customers what they want with fast loading pages, easy navigation, and a streamlined site with great content and great products. Grab hold of that growing number of customers who use mobile devices to shop. Keep Google happy, too, and you won’t risk “disappearing” from search results.
