Posted by Greg Oddy
on 30 March 2015
In a significant game changer for doing business online, Google, has announced it's adding a "mobile-friendly" label to its mobile search
results.
The mega search engine is now seriously backing those websites that make the effort to deliver a positive browser experience for mobile users there were 8.3 million of us using a phone to access the web in Australia in December 2013 compared to 2.8 million during December 2010 .
Moreover, you can bet the number of mobile users accessing the web in Australia is probably closer to 11 million in February 2015 if not more. Therefore, you can see why this is such a significant announcement.
On the flipside, websites that continue to serve up teeny text, impossibly minuscule links, and force users to scroll for content, can forget about earning the Google "mobile-friendly" tick of approval, which will look something like this:
If you want to make sure that your page meets Google's mobile-friendly criteria:
Check your pages with the
Mobile-Friendly Test
Read Google's updated documentation in its
Webmasters Mobile Guide on how to create and improve your mobile site
See the
Mobile usability report in Google Webmaster Tools, which highlights major mobile usability issues across your entire site, not just one page
Check our
how-to guide for third-party software like WordPress or Joomla, in order to migrate your website hosted on a CMS (Content Management System) to use a mobile-friendly template
In the future, having the Google mobile tag will affect websites' search results no matter whether you're a florist, accountancy practice, real estate agent or engineering firm. Google is sending the message loud and proud that being "mobile-friendly" is as critical as being SEO friendly.