We told you about the changes to Google’s search algorithm last year that penalised websites that weren’t responsive or mobile compatible. In March, Google announced that it would be introducing an update to this, meaning that the signal of last year’s change would be enhanced on mobile search results to ensure that users find even more pages that are mobile-friendly during their browsing.
Apparently the number of mobile-friendly sites increased from 70% to 72% after the last update, but that means that there are still plenty of websites that aren’t mobile-friendly out there. Websites that are already mobile-friendly won’t be affected by the newest update. You can check if your site by using the Mobile-Friendly Test.
There are three ways to make your website more mobile-friendly if it isn’t already. You can use responsive design, dynamic serving, or separate site configuration. Google’s favourite is responsive design, but the algorithm accepts all three as mobile-friendly if they’re set up correctly. Responsive design is where the configuration of your page changes as the screen size changes (or as someone minimises their browser on a single device). When in design, your website will need testing on a number of different devices and browsers, and a good agency will ensure that this happens and that the design fits appropriately on each. Dynamic serving is where your URL displays different sets of HTML and CSS dependent on the type of device someone is using to access your website. Separate site configuration is where you have a different code service to different devices, and on separate URLs. The mobile version of your website can be on a sub-domain name ie/ m.mywebsite.com or have an entirely different domain ie/ mywebsite.mobil. The website detects which device your website visitor is using and directs them to the appropriately built website.
So if you want to make sure your website is a priority in mobile search results you need to make sure that your website is mobile-friendly. The majority of internet users now use a mobile device to access the internet and this means that you will be reaching the masses easier. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly or you’re having issues with your website on a mobile device then find out how we can help: hello@webfwd.co.uk
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