Why does it matter?
In a recent blog1, Google took time out from doodling to announce that from April 21st 2015 how “mobile friendly” your website is will become a significant factor in where it will appear in search results...
"Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices."
If your website isn’t mobile friendly it won’t fare well in mobile search results. With an ever increasing amount of users favouring mobile devices over traditional PC based browsing, you could be in for some serious pain. For ecommerce websites that means lost orders.
How do I know if my website is mobile friendly?
Thankfully, Google has created a great tool where you can test your site.
Aaaarrrrggggghhhh, my site failed, what do I do?!?!?
You have until April 21st before your ranking in mobile search results will start to suffer. However, if you check Google Analytics you’ll probably already see that your bounce rate for mobile devices is already significantly higher – they take one look at you website and click straight back.
There are two ways to get your website mobile friendly, changing to a "responsive" design or having a mobile specific website.
Regardless of SEO, all websites should aim to be mobile friendly to ensure that even that fattest-fingered of visitors have the best possible user experience every time.
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