Mobile Usability Issues and Mobilegeddon

Fix mobile usability issues found on www.yoursite.co.uk
Google systems have tested xx pages from your site and found that 100% of them have critical mobile usability errors. The errors on these xx pages severely affect how mobile users are able to experience your website. These pages will not be seen as mobile-friendly by Google Search, and will therefore be displayed and ranked appropriately for smartphone users.

Google is sending thousands of these emails out and they certainly sound worrying, so what does it mean to you?

Mobilegeddon

On the 21st of April 2015 Google will be making a massive change to the search results so that if you don't have a mobile-friendly website you will lose visibility in searches done on mobile devices.

This follows on from the "mobile friendly" tag they added a to mobile search results a few months back (which I wrote about here.)

Here's their tweet about it:

On April 21, we're expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. http://t.co/8LRo9a6gJh #WebmasterNews #mobilefriendly
— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) February 26, 2015

There's no doubt this change is on the way.

So Do I Need a Mobile Friendly Site?

Without a doubt, yes. People now consume the internet more over mobile devices than on desktop computers. This isn't news - we've been recommending mobile friendly web sites since 2012.

Take a look at your own google analytics - click "audience" then "mobile overview" and you can see how your own website traffic is split between desktop, mobile and tablet visitors. Unless you're willing to say goodbye to the non-desktop visits you're getting, it's time to get a mobile friendly website quicksmart. There, I said it.

If you've had one of these warning emails from Google then ignoring it is not an option.

Do I Need a "Mobile-Friendly" Website as well as My Normal Website?

Not at all. You need a responsive web site that adapts to the device being used to look at it. Responsive websites work just as well on mobile phones and tablets as they do on a desktop computer or a laptop.

We specialise in creating beautiful, responsive websites that get results - see our work. If you want to delight your customers and avoid Mobilegeddon get in touch and we can start planning your mobile friendly website today!