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Google to penalise websites not accessible through mobiles
Friday, April 17, 2015
The 21st of April will be an important date for all websites, as Google will start using a new algorithm to rank websites in mobile search results. The result of this will be that websites deemed to be mobile friendly will be ranked higher in search results.
What is going to be the downfall of all of this? All the other websites which are not accessible through mobile devices will be penalised. The idea of this exercise, as explained by a blog post from Google is so that “users will find it easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”
If to date you have gone against the idea of updating your website to be more mobile friendly, well this might be the perfect time to do it. Below we are going to give you some tips on how to achieve this;
Test your website in Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
Google itself offers the analysis tool Mobile-Friendly Test which through it you will be able to know instantly if your website is being optimised for mobile devices. The analysis will tell you straight away how you fare, and if your website is not mobile friendly it will also offer suggestions on how to improve it.
Pagespeed Insights
Another good analysis tool worth using is the Pagespeed Insights, which will give you suggestions how to improve the speed of the website. In the same manner as the Google’s Mobile Friendly Test, the Pagespeed Insights will give you instant results on how to improve your page.
Google’s Usability Report
Through Google’s Webmaster Tools one can also run a Mobile’s Usability Report which will identify specific pages which have usability issues. A nifty graph within this section will show the improvement which you make on your pages.
Do a Simple Search
With a simple Google search from a mobile device you will be able to check if your website if mobile friendly or not. Google are now using a simple label which will display beneath the URL of your website. If this label is not showing, then you will better check how you can improve your online portal.
Ultimately it is imperative to keep in mind that this is not a one time job – one needs to look at it as an iterative process which needs to be done from time to time. A website continuously evolves and we need to be sure that it is growing in the right direction.
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