Google has been actively reminding publishers and business owners that mobile is the next big thing. With handheld devices becoming the more preferred gadgets these days, desktops search share is getting smaller.  This makes optimizing websites for mobile searches and incorporating it into your internet marketing activities becoming inevitable.

Those who don’t take heed are going to suffer the consequences. For small business owners, the wake up call is far from over because a few days from now (or may be while you are reading this blog post), Google will be rolling out its Mobile May update. From there on, mobile friendly websites, those that are optimized for mobile searches, will be getting more prominent positioning on the SERPs.

Getting good, relevant answers when you search shouldn’t depend on what device you’re using. You should get the best answer possible, whether you’re on a phone, desktop or tablet. Last year, we started using mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal on mobile searches. Today we’re announcing that beginning in May, we’ll start rolling out an update to mobile search results that increases the effect of the ranking signal to help our users find even more pages that are relevant and mobile-friendly.|webmasters.googleblog.com

Webmaster’s Mobile Guide or the Principles of Site Design on Web Fundamentals from Google can be very helpful guides if you want to start redoing your website design and making it mobile friendly.” | Google

Really, we don’t have much choice. Majority of your target audience use Google Search and if you don’t want to be left behind by your competitors, then you should start optimizing your website for mobile now.

Eric Seal wrote a convincing article about this at Business2Community.com:

Still Not Mobile-Friendly? Big Google Update in May Should Change Your Mind

“In a perfect world, all sites would be mobile-friendly, just like we’ve been saying.

But the sad truth is that all sites aren’t mobile-friendly. Or else why would this upcoming Google update get announced?

The “Mobile May” Google update, announced last week, will boost the effects of Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm. If you’ve already optimized your site for mobile, this update won’t have any effect. And if you haven’t gone mobile, you should expect to see a nice increase from Google’s algorithms once you do.

A complete, global mobile-friendly movement would make users so happy—and it would certainly make Google happy. If you’ve somehow managed to avoid making the change, this is a pretty good incentive to finally get mobile optimization for your site.”

http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/still-not-mobile-friendly-big-google-update-may-change-mind-01490414#LmSsgwMwk000aTPb.99

Prepare your Websites for Mobile searches

Optimizing your website for mobile searches remains an important part of doing business online. Without a responsive mobile friendly design, it would be difficult for you to gain visibility in mobile searches. You should always keep in mind that nowadays more and more people are searching for “nearby” places and from where they could buy using “On the Go”.

People have already adapted to the “On the Go” searches. They are adapting to conversational searches as they get the ease of completing their queries even if they are doing something else.

These days, Google is playing the good cop and has warned  publishers and website owners about the coming update.

Google warns site owners their site is not mobile-friendly in mobile search results

“Google is now issuing a new type of warning to site owners if their site is not mobile-friendly. The new warnings show directly in the mobile search results, but only to the site owner, when Google knows that the searcher is the owner of the site.

Jennifer Slegg has an old site that is not mobile-friendly, and she reported that when she views the site in the mobile search results, it says to her in the snippet, “Your page is not mobile-friendly.” That message is a hyperlink to a Google help page about mobile-friendly.”

http://searchengineland.com/google-warns-site-owner-site-not-mobile-friendly-mobile-search-results-246849

 

Businesses that already have a mobile friendly website do not need to worry about the upcoming mobile update because it is unlikely to affect their ranking and online presence. However, part of this update includes the process wherein Google bots have to access your website page by page.  This can slow down the roll-out which could take time for the results to show up on the search engine results pages.

Redesigning or upgrading to mobile friendly website design can be quicker if you already have a website up and running.  This saves your business from the wrath of the Mobile May update which is likely to hit soon.

A web page is eligible for the “mobile-friendly” label if it meets the following criteria, as detected in real time by Googlebot:

 

  • Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
  • Uses text that is readable without zooming
  • Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
  • Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped

 

Source | venturebeat.com

Heather Fletcher tells us more about the much awaited update in her article published on  Target Marketing Mag:

Google ‘Mobile May’ Update Looms

Beginning in May,” writes Klemen Kloboves, a software engineer, “we’ll start rolling out an update to mobile search results that increases the effect of the ranking signal to help our users find even more pages that are relevant and mobile-friendly.”

This notice Kloboves gave marketers on March 16 in his post on the Google Webmaster Central Blog comes after Googler Andrey Lipattsev told top SEO’s in March that Google was starting to different queries coming into the search engine. Searchers are using voice recognition on their mobile devices to ask questions in regular speech patterns, rather than using the stilted, robotic language common among consumers who are typing queries into the search engine while they’re on desktop computers. Because desktop queries are going away and more people are using their mobile devices for search, Google is more and more prioritizing the results those users find relevant, Lipattsev says.”

http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/google-mobile-may-update-looms/

To learn more and to get ready for this Mobile May update, do seek guidance from  Qamar Zaman, a Dallas based Internet marketing expert at KISSPR.com – 972-737-1371.