Over the past few months, you may have noticed a dip in organic, mobile search traffic on your website. Wondering what gives? The recent Google Mobile-Friendly Update may be to blame.
What’s This About a Google Mobile-Friendly Update?!
Google released a mobile-friendly search algorithm update back in April 2015 that changed the way mobile search results are displayed, giving priority to mobile-friendly webpages.
Ok, but what does that really mean?
- Only searches conducted on mobile devices are affected
- Applies to individual webpages, not the entire website
- Preference will now be given to mobile-friendly webpages in mobile search results
- Non mobile-friendly webpages will experience a significant decrease in visibility in mobile search results
- All languages are affected
Viewing Mobile Search Data in Google Analytics
Keeping an eye on your website analytics can help you identify – and get ahead of – potential problems on your website; a recent shift in mobile search traffic is no different.
If you use Google Analytics on your website, add this mobile traffic dashboard by Social Media Today to your account to easily view mobile visit data, including number of pageviews, traffic sources (organic!), devices, top landing pages and more. Once you get the dashboard installed, be sure to click “Add Segment” and choose the “Mobile Traffic” option under segment name. Then, you can manipulate the date ranges to determine if your organic mobile traffic has decreased over the past few months.
Test Your Website’s Mobile Friendliness
Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to determine if specific pages on your Web site meet its mobile-friendly requirements. Enter in a given page URL from your website, click “Analyze” and wait for the tool to review the page, provide a pass/fail grade, and suggest how to improve if the page didn’t meet the mobile-friendly requirements.
Upgrading to a Mobile-Friendly Website
Are you discovering that some or all of your website is not considered mobile-friendly? Don’t worry; you have options! Check out sandcastle-web.com/services/website-design/ to present your website across multiple devices consistently: large screen desktop monitors, laptops, tablets and a variety of mobile smart phones.
Each of these three mobile-friendly options has their pros and cons. Both our website developers and Google recommend responsive design as the preferred option, not only to improve your mobile search engine optimization, but to also provide the best user experience. Check out https://webdesignottawa.com to get a website that distinguishes you from your competitors.
| Configuration | URL | HTML | Content | How it Works |
| Responsive Design | Same | Same | Same | Serves the same HTML and content on the same URL by rendering the display differently based on screen size. |
| Dynamic Serving | Same | Different | Different | Generates different version of HTML and content on the same URL depending on what the server knows about the browser. |
| Separate URLs/ Microsite | Different | Different | Different | Generates different HTML and content on a different URL by detecting a device and redirecting to appropriate page. |
