Some game-changing changes from Google

It’s no secret that Google hold the monopoly on web-based search and as such, if they make changes to the way they search websites we need to jump through hoops to keep on top of things.

They change their algorithms all the time, it’s one of the reasons why they deliver good results, and it looks like they’re at it again, but this time with some pretty game-changing changes.

Recently Google have started paying more consideration to searches made from mobile phones by, for example, favouring websites that are mobile-friendly. This of course makes sense as users would rather see mobile-friendly websites on their phones than ones that won’t display properly.

However until now desktops have always had priority… This is about to change and Google have announced that soon (within “months”) they’ll use the mobile index as their primary index instead.

So what? Reading in to this it means that Google are placing more emphasis on the way websites work on mobiles than they do on desktops. So the way your website works on mobile phones will be more important that the way it works on computers.

As an industry we’re unsure how this will work, for example how far ‘behind’ will the desktop index be compared to the rapidly updated mobile one? Will desktop searches use the mobile index? Is the mobile index going to dismiss content that isn’t mobile-friendly?

What we do know is that the times where we focussed on desktop websites are going to be short lived, the future is mobile.

It’s not enough to have a working mobile website, but now we need to consider much more including how easily buttons and links are to click, how well the text adjusts to screen sizes, what content is hidden, how well it works on touch-screens, and how it adjusts to different size screens.

So will this affect you? Well it’s hard to say as Google haven’t released any details, but as a rule-of-thumb:

• If your website isn’t mobile friendly (check here) then this is likely to have a major effect.
• If your website is mobile friendly, but it isn’t as good on mobiles as it is on computers, then you should seek advice.
• If your website works better on mobiles than it does on computers, then you should be OK.

If you’re unsure of course, get in touch with us and we’ll give you some advice, no-strings-attached.

The web is changing, and now there are more mobile users than desktop ones. Google are taking this in to consideration, and now it’s time for everyone else to as well.

We are Webbed Feet ^UK, we make mobile friendly websites.