Nowadays, people, do content searching more on their pocket computers (mobiles) then on the actual one. It’s easier now as the internet is now accessible to more people thanks to mostly the “Jio” friendly internet packs. Taking this into consideration, Google has now started to change the way its search engine recommends websites on smartphones and tablets.
The move will favour the “Mobile-Friendly” websites as those meeting the search giants criteria will more likely to appear at the top of the rankings which in turn translates into more visitors and money.
Google has been urging websites to cater to the mobile device for years, mainly because that is where people are increasingly searching for information. These websites must be designed so they load quickly on mobile devices. Content must also be easily accessible by scrolling up and down without having to also swipe to the left or right. It also helps if all buttons for making purchases or taking other actions on the website can be easily seen and touched on smaller screens.
If a website has been designed only with PC users in mind, the graphics take longer to load on mobile devices and the columns of text don’t all fit on the smaller screens, to the aggravation of someone trying to read it.
Back in November 2016, Google had said that it would start prioritizing websites that have a mobile-friendly, responsive design in favour of traditional desktop online websites. Now it’s rolling out a “mobile-first” version of its index, which could be a drastic game change for search engine optimizers and webmasters. The changes to the search algorithms will not affect searches performed on the desktop but could have major effects, both positive and negative, for plenty of sites. Sites which are not identified as mobile-friendly by Google should expect to see their numbers decrease significantly. Conversely, sites with mobile-friendly versions are in for a reward as they will be moving up the results pages replacing those sites expected to fall.
Here are the guidelines Google has for site owners to make sure they don’t lose out on site traffic and revenue.
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