Google adding “mobile friendly” label to search listings

It has just become more important than ever to ensure that your website is mobile friendly.

Google are now adding a “mobile friendly” label to all searches that are done on a mobile phone. You can check it yourself. Just do any search on Google on your phone and you will see the label next to any search result that is mobile friendly.

For a while now it has been extremely important to have your website mobile optimised. When people end up on  a site that is not optimised usually they leave pretty quickly.

Now it is essential. Consumers will start noticing this label pretty quickly. They won’t even click on your listing if it is not mobile friendly.

Studies have shown as well that people that are searching for services on a phone are very outcome oriented

in 50% of cases they are seeking to make a purchase and often make it immediately.

If for example you are a restaurant they want to be able to see quickly where you are (a map), a phone number (which has to be able to be clicked on to dial), a menu and opening hours. All in a mobile friendly format. Someone searches for say a Thai restaurant in the Glenelg area, they are probably quite ready to eat. You need to make it easy for that person to connect with your business.

So what is Google checking?

Well the Googlebot is checking the following things:

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

The other thing about this is that it is a major Google initiative to see that Web sites are mobile friendly.  So websites that aren’t mobile friendly get a lower search ranking than ones that are. Can you afford this?

If you haven’t got your web page mobile friendly yet, it’s time now. Talk to me about this. I can help.

Google Guidelines