What Does the Recent Google Update Mean for Your Website?

They called it Mobilegeddon. It swept in a month ago now and millions of websites are feeling the impact of Google’s update. Even big name brands have seen their search traffic drop, due to their pages not being mobile friendly enough.

So, where does that leave the rest of us? Let’s take a look at what the recent Google update means for your website.

Mobile Friendly

The biggest part of the latest Google update was a strong focus on mobile-friendly websites. If your website isn’t responsive for mobile phones, then you could see quite a dramatic loss in traffic. You can use Webmaster Tools to see whether your search engine presence has changed over the last month. You'll then be able to gauge whether you’ve been impacted. Google has rolled out their mobile-friendly test, which will let you know whether you’re a pass in their books. Here are some of the common reasons for failing:

• Website isn’t responsive
• Navigation is too difficult on mobiles
• Page times are too slow to load
• Flash used on the site

These are just some of the most common. Although there are plenty more reasons why Google may have penalized you, in the latest update.

Two Different Rankings

The new update also means that you will have different SERPS on desktop search and mobile search. While you may still be nearing the top spot for your keywords on desktop, you may be near the bottom on mobile. With so many internet users now turning to their mobile search engines, this could be a big problem. If you see huge drops in traffic for mobile searches, then the update has impacted your site. This could mean lower visitor numbers, which can then equate to fewer sales. Not something any website owner wants to hear!

Fixing The Issues

Luckily, Google are updating their SERPS more frequently since their big changes. This means that you won’t have to wait months to see a climb in the rankings, as long as you make some mobile-friendly modifications. It would be wise to talk to an SEO Agency who will be able to check through some of the key issues in your site. It could be that your website is responsive, but doesn’t have user-friendly navigation. It may be something else entirely! By calling in a professional, at least you can start to make the necessary changes sooner rather than later.

In Summary

Mobilegeddon may have been rolled out fully, but website owners are still feeling the aftershocks a month down the line. If you’re not ticking all of those mobile-friendly boxes then there could be a serious impact on your visitor numbers. There are ways to fix this, however, with the right experts on your side. Ensure your site is responsive and easy to navigate for those on a mobile. You’ll always want to speed your site up, to cater for users on 3G. These changes shouldn’t take long or cost too much money, luckily. And as Google are updating SERPS more regularly, it shouldn’t take too long to claw those visitor numbers back.