2 June 2015

The future is mobile friendly!!!

02 June 2015
As Google explains it, in order for a site to be considered mobile friendly, its text has to be readable without tapping and zooming, its tap targets need to be spaced out appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling. In other words, the site simply needs to be easily usable from a mobile device.

In 1997, there were approximately 1 million websites, and 10 years later, there were 150 million. In 2007, there were about 1 million mobile websites, and the number is supposed to reach 150 million by 2017. It is clear that mobile friendly websites are going to increase exponentially in the years to come. The internet started on the PC but with more than 3 billion mobile phones being used worldwide, we are soon approaching a time when many people’s first internet experience will be through a mobile device. These rapid changes have left the business world with no choice other than to adapt to them. With mobile devices taking over the place of the PC, not having a mobile friendly website is like committing business suicide.

Despite the warning, a number of extremely well known brands are still scrabbling to minimize the impact of Google’s mobile algorithm update, leaving smaller businesses with the advantage as long as they don’t panic according to leading UK and US Search experts.

“Small businesses tend to be far more flexible with their tech teams able to apply changes far quicker and easier than larger enterprises due to a less complicated infrastructure, which also makes it easier to roll out new software and processes.” Jono Alderson, Head of Insight at Linkdex, added “In many ways, it’s easier for small businesses to pivot and reinvent themselves and their business strategy based on how their customers prefer to interact with them.”

And given that many businesses, particularly in retail and other ecommerce sectors, rely heavily on search traffic to drive up sales and keep their bottom line looking healthy those who haven’t addressed how their sites appear on mobile need to act urgently.

Even those who have apps need to address the issue as it is websites where search traffic is sent – and a bad experience here can put people off going any further, if indeed they can still find the site after Google makes its mobile move.

Making a site automatically change layout depending on what device is being used to view it, known as responsive design, is the best way to ensure it is mobile friendly, while working to keep load times as low as possible will give the site the best chance of performing well.

Source: Forbes, iMarket factory, TechCrunch

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