It's been two weeks. Did you survive Mobilegeddon? Google made it official on May 5th when they implemented the long-taled-ablout Mobilegeddon. Beginning on the 5th, if your blog or website isn't mobile-friendly you are going to be penalized in Google search results. Moreover, Google seems to be grouping tablets with desktops when it provides search analytics. So it’s definitely smartphones taking the lead on search. This means you must make sure your content is easy to read and digest on the small screen.
It’s been two weeks now, so how’s Mobilegeddon effecting your website traffic and overall search results.
Google Findings Contradict Earlier comScore Data
Search Engine Land, which broke the news to me that “Google Says More Searches Now On Mobile Than On Desktop” notes a recent report from the web analytics firm comScore which indicated more searches are conducted on smartphones but they aren’t dominating search. Moreover, comScore grouped tablets and smartphones together for the research. Editor Greg Sterling asked Google about this, but received no comment. He concludes one of the following must be true:
- Smartphone search grew really, really quickly; or
- comScore data is incorrect.
But this compares one apple (the US market comScore measured) and the Google apple tree, which collected data from 10 countries. Google’s data also comes after the 2014 holiday season when smartphone sales did very well. In fact, they went through the proverbial roof.
Gartner, a leading IT research firm, reported global smartphone sales passed the one billion mark in 2014. Well over 367 million smartphones were sold in the last quarter of 2014. In case you’re wondering, Apple beat out Samsung with 75 million sales to 73 million. The next closest competitor, Lenovo/Motorola, came in at 24 million.
If your business speaks directly to consumers, you would do well to take a look at the way your content looks on smartphones. It probably is a good idea to this if you’re developing your B2B digital marketing strategy too.
Some Tips For Mobilegeddon Survival
Take a look at your blog on your smartphone. Is the content easy to track or are you getting more lost each time you have to scroll down? Think back to your middle school writing exercises.
- Keep paragraphs short by limiting each one to a single idea.
- Keep sentences short.
- Use bullet points (see?)
This doesn’t mean reducing your blog posts to 250 words. It just means reducing paragraph density.
In addition, if your business primarily serves a local market, make sure your website content and blog mentions this fact. Add a Google map to your site so people can find you.
Optimize your site as much as possible, including the images you use. Avoid plugins and widgets that come with images you can’t optimize, such as graphics that come with many weather forecast plugins.
Google Mobile Tools Can Help You Identify Trouble Spots
In addition to retooling content, check your mobile site’s performance. Here are a few Google tools:
- Mobile-Friendly test: This analyzes URLs and reports if the page has a mobile-friendly design. Failing this test is going to affect where you appear in Google search results.
- Page Loading: People are less patient with slow downloads to their small screens, so be sure to check your desktop and mobile page loads. The PageSpeed Insights tool checks page loads on all devices.
- Determine which devices your mobile visitors use:Take a look at your Google Analytics report to see what devices your customers use to reach your site. This is very important if you have an app or are considering one, since there is not yet a standard for an iPhone and Android-friendly app.
Your inbound and social media marketing strategy’s success is going to be helped by having a mobile-friendly website and blog. And don’t forget about “mobile friendly” when you’re developing your next email newsletter. More than 50% of us read email on a mobile device.
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