Your Website Needs Attention
“Your website needs attention.”
Chances are you’ve heard those words quite a few times this week.
Here’s the scoop: Google is changing its algorithm again, and this time around it plans to “slap” websites that are not mobile friendly by April 21st .
If you care about your rankings in the search engines, read on.
I’m going to break down these changes for you, without “end-of-the-world” scary hype, so that you know what you need to do, what needs your attention and how to quickly take action.
Basically what’s happening is that Google is adding a “mobile friendly” component to its algorithm to help determine whether your site is mobile friendly on devices such as smart phones and tablets. Any site that is found not to be mobile friendly will be automatically dropped in the rankings below those that are, when the searches are made from mobile devices .
A few years ago, having a mobile site was just a novelty. Now it’s a must. It’s estimated that in 2015, 50% of all search traffic will come from a mobile device. If your firm is being buried or even dropped from search results for mobile users, it’s easy to see how this could have a significant impact on your practice.
So How Will This REALLY Affect You? What If You already HAVE a Mobile Site?
Maybe you already HAVE a mobile site or you’ve had your website recently re-designed. You’re probably feeling confident that all this doesn’t apply to you. However, I’d challenge you to still take a deeper look.
Here’s why: my friends at Solamar Marketing, who are BRILLIANT designers and coders in their own right, had a personal run-in with this new Google Slap that warrants everyone’s attention.
Even though Solamar has a mobile site, when they ran their domain through Google’s Webmaster Tools, they were notified that 100% of their website was NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY. How could that be?
Turns out, they had a few old HTML pages that were outside of their main company site that were left over from previous versions and just kind of floating around in cyberspace. Thanks to those rogue, unused pages, it did not pass Google’s “mobile friendly test”! It would have been unknowingly dropped from the rankings if they didn’t catch it in time!
The fix? They simply deleted all the rogue pages and solved the problem. They are 100% mobile-friendly again.
It’s Not Time To Worry… It’s Time To Take Action
If by this point of my email you are hyperventilating, please take a deep breath. This is not the end of the world. Here’s why:
- Some sites can become mobile friendly by simply adding a plugin. It’s a super easy and inexpensive fix that can get your site compliant in no time.
- Perhaps you have rogue pages out there in cyberspace that are causing your entire site to be penalized. All you or your webmaster must do is find them and DELETE.
- You may need additional coding on your current site to make mobile friendly, could be a little time consuming but doesn’t necessarily require an entire site remake.
- Or, if there is no easy fix for you beyond creating a mobile-friendly site from scratch, consider it for the best. Again, with mobile search traffic constantly on the rise, it’s an investment in your practice that will definitely pay off if you are quick to become compliant while your competition is asleep at the wheel!
All that said, if you want to make sure your website is up to par and don’t know where to turn or who to trust, my two recommended resources for web design are:
Solamar Marketing
http://www.solamarmarketing.com
or
Lisa Beers Design
If you choose to contact them, let them know that you were referred by Laura Lee. I don’t make one red cent by sending you to either company, but I know that they take great care of my readers and extend even better pricing. Win-Win.
If you have specific questions about what to expect with these upcoming changes or you don’t have the time to manage this process and want some help, “email us” and let’s chat about how we may be able to assist you.
Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.