Mobilegeddon responsive design samples
It’s taken a few months to really see the impact Google’s algorithm change of favoring mobile-friendly websites has made. Reports are in, and sites that were not mobile-friendly experienced a substantial loss in ranking and tracking whereas sites that did fit the bill experienced a traffic boost.
Coined under “Mobilegeddon,” the changes were announced beginning of the year to take effect in April, and nervous speculation quickly circulated as to how big of a deal the change would be.
What does Google mean by "mobile-friendly?” Google favors sites that look good on small screens, are easy to read and separate links to be easier to tap. Yet, Google also added this quality measure to their search-ad system, so sites that are mobile-friendly have a bigger advantage of winning search-ads and seeing a rise in clicks.
Digital marketing firm IgnitionOne reported a 44% increase of search-ad clicks on phones in the second quarter compared to the same period a year before, supporting Adobe’s speculation that more people are conducting searches on their phones rather than a desktop.
This already has had an affect on the value of mobile advertising. Ad prices are up 16% in response to the change as sites that saw a dip in organic traffic hastened to purchase more mobile-search ads.
Though fair warning was given time in advanced, smaller companies whose sites are not mobile-ready struggle with the developmental costs to conform to the requirements. The general viewpoint is that big companies have the money and time to develop solid mobile websites to keep up.
In the past, completely separate mobile sites were developed which were costly in building and maintaining. Responsive design has now made it easier and cost-effective in comparison by adapting websites to conform to the device it is being viewed on.
With all the frenzy surrounding Google’s Mobilegeddon, publishers big and small using Metro Publisher to power their sites didn’t have to sweat. Responsive design was a free update a few years ago, and is part of the package, not an extra. Every site enjoys the benefits of automatically being mobile-friendly from the get-go.
