The Mobile Friendly update, a new criterion for Google’s ranking, has been officially in place since April 21, 2015. How can you ensure that your website is Mobile Friendly? What is the real positive impact for your site?
Essential for websites, mobile compatibility must meet specific criteria. Mentioned in the SERPs, Mobile Friendly sites aim to offer a better experience to web users on mobile devices.
As a ranking criterion among many others, it has become essential for acquiring an audience through search engines, considering that mobile visits represent an increasingly significant portion.
Mobile Friendly: What are the criteria?
The announcement was made in late 2014, and the new “Mobile Friendly” criterion was to be implemented by Google starting April 21, 2015. To achieve this, it must meet various strategic points, starting with the “Mobile Site” label in search results. To assist you, Google even offers a verification service for mobile compatibility. For a website to be Mobile Friendly, it must meet specific criteria, including:
– Perfect readability of text, without requiring zooming or scrolling (horizontal movement) by the user
– Flawless visibility of content for visitors (without zooming)
– Compatible software installed (not like Flash, which is not recommended)
– Call to action (clickable buttons) spaced sufficiently apart
– Page automatically adjusted to the mobile screen size
To ensure compliance with all Mobile Friendly criteria, Google provides dedicated help pages for webmasters. It explains in detail the steps to conform a website.
Why opt for mobile compatibility for your website?
As a new ranking criterion, Mobile Friendly has many other benefits for a website. Naturally, it plays a role in the positioning of a site in the SERPs (search results). With Google being the quintessential search engine, websites have every reason to become mobile-friendly. Even though the (unfounded) rumor suggests that non-Mobile Friendly sites will be downgraded, it is more prudent to have a mobile-compatible site.
The advancement of mobile technologies influences the number of users. In France, an internet user spends about an hour a day on their smartphone browsing websites, and it remains wise to take into account this potential pool of buyers by simplifying the purchasing process for a user via a phone.
The interest of Mobile Friendly remains in attracting more visitors, generating traffic, and thus actions (purchase, quote, contact, etc.). By monitoring the number of visits on Google Webmaster Tools, you can also inform yourself about the audience of your website on mobile.
