As many of you will have noticed, the hashtag #Mobilegeddon has been trending pretty highly on Twitter (week commencing 20/04/2015). It would seem that the proverbial midden has hit the windmill and everyone is shocked and surprised that Google would make such a dastardly change to their search algorithm to give more gravitas to those sites that are responsive (mobile-friendly in layman’s terms).

Let’s be clear: This change only affects searches conducted from a mobile device.

I’d like to ask you a question though, is it really such an unexpected turn of events?

Context (pun intended)

The first point that I’d like to address is why Google have chosen to do this. Firstly i’d like to remind readers that Google have historically been all about content and relevance. The success of the search engine was primarily down to the fact that the user could conduct a (near enough) instantaneous search that would bring them astoundingly relevant results with minimum fuss.

Prior to the advent and mass take-up of smartphones and tablets, web developers primarily had to worry about content on websites when it came to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO - where the website will rank in Google’s search results). SEO technically covers all search engines but, well… Jeeves is dead, to be blunt. Best of luck to Bing though!

The Shift

Everyone will agree that any businesses’ content must be engaging and exciting. This goes without saying and I’m not going to preach that it’s suddenly unimportant; it’s still as important as ever. What has changed however, is the way in which people want to interact and engage with that content. We call this the User Experience (UX).

In my previous post (here) I explain that 62% of the UK’s adult population now have a Smartphone. This doesn’t include ‘mobile devices’ such as tablets. This means that the proportion of the population with a mobile device is likely higher than this. It seems fairly self-evident that this increase in mobile devices would directly impact the way in which people access websites. Want to know the reason why Google have implemented this change to their algorithm? Let me pose you a hypothetical question:

Would you rather

- Search for a site on your phone, look through results, click an appropriate site, be greeted with a full webpage and have to zoom, trawl and grope around for content on a miniaturised version of a website trying to cram onto your phone screen

OR

 - Search for a site on your phone, look through results, click an appropriate site, and be able to see a clearly displayed site, complete with easy to use navigation tools that you can read from the start. No zooming required.

Seems quite a simple choice doesn’t it?

Our Method

At putitout we have been creating responsive websites for years. This isn’t to say we’re clairvoyant (we’re working on that) but this heritage and enormous experience in the industry put us in a brilliant position to help your business avoid Mobilegeddon. Just to reassure you that this isn't bluster, take a look at our fully responsive site: www.putitout.co.uk - we built it in 2010.

People who are touting this change as a brutish affront to small businesses aren’t entirely wrong: For some businesses, and I do empathise with them, this will undoubtedly be a shock to the system and will - in some cases - certainly affect traffic to their sites and therefore potential revenue and exposure.

In order to mitigate this, get in touch and we will be more than happy to help.