4 Steps to Save Your Website from Mobilegeddon Doom

In a recent algorithm change dubbed "Mobilegeddon", Google has officially instituted a search ranking shift towards prioritizing responsive websites — and Bing will soon be implementing their own mobile-friendly update in the coming months.

This ranking change on smartphones and other devices has made it imperative for businesses to adapt or risk losing valuable search visibility and web traffic.

Maintaining your site's current mobile ranking is only part of the immense value of a responsive site. You'll also be able to take full advantage of the vast amount users performing product research and shopping directly on their smartphones.

Search traffic on mobile devices will only continue to increase and has already begun to surpass searches performed on desktop. Because consumers constantly on-the-go, there is a huge opportunity for local businesses to gain visibility when people are searching near their brick-and-mortar store fronts.

With the two most used and powerful search engines both favoring mobile-friendly sites, it is absolutely crucial to have one. These 4 steps for a fully mobile website will allow your small business to survive this apocalypse and keep your traffic intact.

1. Responsive Design

Google wants to give the best user experience to its searchers as they can: simple as that.

This is the exact reason for "Mobilegeddon" — Google's goal is to consistently show the easiest to read and navigate sites with the most useful content for the searcher's query.

To be sure your site isn't left by the wayside, each page must be fully responsive for all screen sizes and browsers. Consumers search on a massive variety of devices and platforms (IOS, Android, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) and your website must always function to the best of its ability on all of them.

2. Easy-to-read Content

Arguably the most meaningful way to make your web pages mobile friendly is to format your content with your reader in mind.

Altering your content to be easy to view on smaller screen creates a simple journey for your customers when they find you on their devices.

Some things to consider when editing your website's copy, images, and other content:

• Font style
• Font size
• Font and background color
• Image proportions
• Use of white space between sections

3. User Experience

What makes a website truly "mobile-friendly" lies in the intuitiveness and ease of its user experience. Your site must be easy to navigate by utilizing layout changes that work well on smaller screens.

Features that create excellent experiences on mobile devices include:

• Large, easy to click buttons
• Navigation menu with only most important pages
• Organized site structure
• Legible writing
• Simplified contact forms

4. Traditional ranking signals

Traditional SEO ranking factors also play a major role in Google's updated mobile algorithm.

Some of the technical SEO factors of the back-end of your website that have the largest impact are:

• Clean URLs
• Unique, useful content
• Internal & external links
• Keyword-focused title & meta tags
• XML sitemap
• Page load speed

Need help with mobile ranking survival?

Following these steps should give your website a "mobile-friendly" tag in Google's Mobile Friendly Developer Tool. These SEO techniques will maintain your good graces with Google on all mobile devices, while helping to give you a ranking boost by taking advantage of traditional search factors.

Contact the SEO team at MustBeOnline and we'll ensure your site is fully mobile-friendly and built from the ground-up for search engine success.