A lot of small businesses have questions about Google. How do I get my website to rank high in Google's search rankings? How can I improve my search engine optimization strategy? They might also be wondering why Google is penalizing websites that are not compatible with mobile devices.
Related Blog: Why Google Wants You to Have a Responsive Website
The short answer is they are doing it to make the world's information more accessible. However, the longer answer is rooted in history. To understand Google, you must know about their history, and how they have been working tirelessly to improve their search engine in the last decade or so.
This is the name of one of Google's first ever algorithm updates. Around 2004, they realized that some websites were trying to get to the top of their organic search rankings through unsavory tricks. This update stopped all the obvious cheaters, but it had plenty of holes.
After a while, article spinners came back with new tricks. They invested in spinning software, programs that changed the words in quality articles with synonyms, and they were able to beat Google's algorithm. However, Panda changed all of that.
This update stopped marketers from paying for backlinks to raise up their website search engine results. Many of the people who built their website this way lost most of their online visibility.
As of April 21st, Google layed punitive measures on websites that were not mobile user friendly. These websites are hard to navigate for people with smartphones, and Google is all about making the world's information more accessible to everyone. Websites that are not mobile friendly have certain design issues, choices that were fine before the explosion of mobile but are becoming outdated now.
For instance, websites that are not compatible with mobile devices have hyperlinks that are too close together, and when clients try to click on one hyperlink, they sometimes end up clicking on another one. Additionally, websites that require too much scrolling are not mobile-friendly either. There can be a long road to mobile-friendliness, and luckily there is a solution for webmasters.
Google the words "mobile-friendly test", and the first result will be a Google-sponsored page with the headline mobile friendly test. Enter your URL in there, and Google will tell you if your website is compatible with mobile devices. Additionally, they will give you what you can do to fix the complication.
For more information on how to make your website mobile user friendly, visit our blog, or contact us if you would like to learn more about inbound marketing!