As of April 21, if your website is not “Mobile Friendly” then you could lose up to 1/3rd of your traffic, depending on the nature of your website.
Car audio retailers, as all retailers, should make the effort to adjust their site to a Mobile Friendly format this month as Google is shifting its algorithms next week to favor sites that are optimized for viewing on a smartphone or tablet.
Here’s how to tell if your site is mobile friendly. Google your site while on a mobile device. If it says “Mobile Friendly” right under your site name, you are fine. If not, you will want to call your web developer to make some changes.
Another way to find out is to click here and fill in your web address. If your site is not mobile friendly, it will tell you why and how to fix it. If you type in “CEoutlook.com,” (which is in the process of going mobile friendly) it shows up as “not mobile friendly” due to the fact the text was too small to read, links too close together, mobile viewport not set and content wider than the screen.
Google said, “As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, our algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns…. Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change…will have a significant impact in our search results.” Google added, “If you have questions about either mobile-friendly websites or app indexing, we’re always happy to chat in our Webmaster Help Forum.”
According to some reports Google Local search rankings will not be affected but typical search results will.
Mitch Schaffer, owner of 1Sixty8 Media, which helps car audio dealers improve their websites (and owner of a leading car audio store Mobile Edge in PA) said, “There is a lot of uncertainty on just how penalized your site will be in terms of how it shows up in Google results…. I think the bottom line is if your site is not mobile responsive, now is the time to make it mobile responsive. When Google makes changes sometimes sites can be hit real hard…”
For help with the Mobile Friendly changeover, retailers may contact Schaffer of 1Sixty8 at 855-4168-NOW. Also you may email Laura Johnson of altruik, which gave a presentation on the Mobile Friendly shift at Spring KnowledgeFest. Altruick works with the Mobile Electronics group to provide search engine optimization (SEO). Retailers may also call Cory Mayo of the Mobile Electronics Group at 800-949-6372 ext 461.
Here are some other helpful reports on Google’s April 21 “Mobilegeddon”:
