Making sure your website is mobile-friendly (also known as responsive or adaptive) is now more important than ever. Mobile-friendly websites will rank higher in Google search. We have been talking about mobile marketing for years, and now Google has made it official.
Google announced that they will be making changes to their search algorithm starting on April 21, 2015. Google’s mobile ranking will label mobile-friendly websites and will place them higher in search results. Google said, “users will find it easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”
What Is a Mobile-Friendly Website?
A mobile-friendly website is a site that adapts to the device being used to view the website, whether it’s a desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet. A mobile-friendly website will re-size the content and images to ensure that the site displays correctly on any device. You can test your site for a mobile-friendly design in Google’s webmaster tools.
How Do You Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly?
According to Google, a website that is eligible for the “mobile-friendly” label will meet the following criteria as detected by a Googlebot.
– Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
– Uses text that is readable without zooming
– Sizes content on the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
– Places link far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
If you are creating a new site, we would recommend using a content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. But, beware of the theme you choose because not all themes are mobile-friendly or responsive.
Another option is to hire a professional website development company to create your site. J. Murray & Associates fully embrace responsive web design as our standard development for building websites.
If you would like more information about mobile-friendly website design, call us at 630.964.4401.