Failing to optimize your website for mobile visitors won’t just impact your traffic and prospective sales—it could also trigger a Google demotion, thereby decreasing your search visibility.
According to a Google Webmaster Central blog post published last week, Google is dedicated to helping mobile users “experience the full richness of the web.” As a result, Google plans “to roll out several ranking changes in the near future that address sites that are misconfigured for smartphone users.”
Yet the message from Google isn’t all doom and gloom. The search team identified two of the most common errors when it comes to mobile site optimization. Consider these your starting points as you check over your mobile site’s functionality.
Mobile Optimization Error #1: Faulty Redirects
If your website uses separate URLs to serve your desktop and smartphone users, make sure your smartphone link doesn’t lead to an irrelevant page on the mobile site. Here are a few examples from Google that illustrate faulty redirects:
To fix? Make sure that the desktop page redirects to a page that’s optimized for mobile users. If all else fails, Google recommends showing the desktop content rather than redirecting to an irrelevant page. Yet optimization is about delivering the best mobile experience to your users and customers, so why not take the time to give them the information they want, how they want it?
Mobile Optimization Error #2: Smartphone-Only Errors
Some websites include errors that are only seen by smartphone users. For example, desktop users might be able to access a URL, but when it’s viewed by a smartphone user, that person sees an error page. One solution? Navigate your site with your mobile device. Do you run into any problem pages? Slow load times? Anything else that might negatively impact a mobile user’s experience? If so, put those at the top of your “To Fix” list.
In fact, Google recommends testing your site on as many mobile devices as possible—you may run into some sort of error that impacts only a certain type of device or tablet.
Are you surprised that the mobile web experience will start to factor more heavily in search results? Or, given the rapidly growing number of mobile users, does this decision from Google make perfect sense?
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Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”