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Google's Shift to Mobile-Friendly Search Results
With the world making a fast-paced shift towards all things mobility, having a website that works well on mobile devices is now more important than ever. Back in June of 2013, Google announced that in the near future, websites that were mobile-friendly would be rewarded in the search results. |
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But since that time, there was never an official date as to when these changes would roll out, so we've all been anxiously waiting -- until now.
On
February 26, Google announced that starting on April 21, mobile-friendliness will officially become a ranking signal in their mobile algorithm for Google search. Uh oh, everyone hit the panic button! Now, that doesn't mean that Google will send someone to your house to personally slap you on the wrist if your website isn't responsive. But if two websites are built with all things created equal, except one is mobile friendly and one is not, the website that performs best on a mobile device will likely rank higher in the mobile search results.
How can you tell if your website is mobile friendly?
If your website was built in 1999, you can probably stop reading right now and assume that your website is NOT mobile friendly. It may be time for a new one if mobile organic search traffic is still important to your business, and for most of us in the staffing and recruitment industry, it is. But for the rest of you who remain unsure, Google has a
mobile-friendly testing tool that allows you to simply insert your URL to be analyzed, and Google will tell you exactly what needs to be fixed. If your website was recently built and is responsive, then you can exhale -- Google probably still likes you!
It's about more than just organic search traffic.
Most recruiters will read about this announcement from Google and become fixated on the impact it will have on their search results, especially if you're concerned with your local SEO strategy. But there's a bigger picture here that we need to consider. Having a responsive website is nice, but if it doesn't convert and your bounce rate continues to climb, then your website isn't helping you -- it's probably hurting you. Over time, your organic search rankings will drop in spite of your mobile-friendly website, because user behavior indicates that people aren't able to find what they're looking for on your website.
Click here to test if your website is mobile friendly.
Click here to see Haley Marketing's full blog post on this subject.
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