Google's making changes….again!

Today, people take their technology on the go with them. They are using their tablets and smartphones more often to check out a business’ website than ever before.  

Mobile browsing is so widespread it overtook computer browsing last year as the main way people browse the Internet. Because of that change in behavior, Google rolled out a huge change to its search results on April 21.

If you’ve used a smartphone or small table to search online, you have probably found that not every website is “mobile friendly.” By default, websites are built for large computer screens and the website just does not look good on a mobile device. If you are looking at a non-mobile friendly website, you will have to scroll and pan to find the information you want. It really isn’t easy to search a non-mobile friendly site on a smartphone.

This is where Google has stepped in. In order to give mobile users the best web experience possible, Google has made a significant change to their search system. When you run a Google search using a smartphone, the results will be based on whether or not a site is mobile friendly.

In other words, if your business doesn't have a mobile-friendly site, you could end up farther down the results list than a competitor who does have one. Any online business can live or die by its search ranking, so this is a game changer.

Google hasn’t said how much having a mobile-friendly website will affect your search results, but if you don’t have one, now is the time to get one. Even if you don’t care about your Google search rankings, it is still important to keep your customers using mobile devices happy.

If you aren’t sure if your website is mobile friendly or not, Google has a tool that will tell you. Simply click here and type in your website's address. You'll get a pass-fail. If you fail, Google will give you some ideas to improve your site.

Talk to whoever built your website to learn how to make it mobile friendly. Now is the time to get your website mobile friendly.