So how big a deal is this April 21
“Google Mobilegeddon”?
By Brett Lloyd Abbott, MYM Austin Inc.
I apologize if my previous newsletter about Google punishing websites that are not “mobile friendly” caused a little panic. THERE’S NO NEED TO PANIC. Yes, SEO specialists all over the world are referring to this as “Mobile Armageddon” (a.k.a. “Mobilegeddon“), but it’s not the end of the world. Not by itself, anyway.
Here are a few key points to keep in mind regarding the issues of Google, mobile, Mobilegeddon, and search engine optimization:
- This change – for now at least – affects only MOBILE searches. It does not affect iPads, tablets or desktop searches.
- It’s fairly easy to recover from. (Though not necessarily CHEAP.) Google says that if you’re not mobile-ready today, but you are, say, a month from now, they will recognize the change almost instantly, and life will be good again.
- This new “mobile” rule is just one more criterion that Google will add to the other 100 to 200 criteria that they review to determine your overall website rankings.
In fact, you can just add this latest warning to the list of all the other “the sky is falling” warnings that we’ve heard from over-reacting SEO experts over the years. Working back chronologically, do you remember these historic admonitions?
- “You’ve got to be mobile-friendly!”
- “It’s all about content!”
- “It’s all about social media!”
- “You’ve got to have videos!”
- “You’ve got to have high-reputation backlinks!”
- “You’ve got to have backlinks!”
- “You’ve got to have the right keywords and meta-tags!”
- “You’ve got to code your website properly!”
- “You’ve got to have a website!”
Now don’t get me wrong – making your website “mobile-friendly” is absolutely the right thing to do. But so is “making sure you’ve got good content.” Because an uncompelling, platitude-filled website won’t persuade or impress anyone, including Google. Neither will a website that is clunky or hard to navigate – mobile or otherwise.
The bottom line is this:
Google isn’t “playing games” or “hiding secrets.”
They just want you to have a damn good website.
And not coincidentally, so do all the homeowners who are searching for your services. And so do I. That’s why I wrote about the importance of your website back in 2014, and 2013, and 2012, and 2011, and several times back in 2009.
With all that said, I guess my recommendation this week is still exactly the same as it was in my previous post: If you’ve been postponing the update/revision of your website to “mobile-ready” AND/OR just an update in general, then once again you should consider this your wake-up call. Google is not going to wait for you.
If you need help updating your website, just give us a call, at 877-634-8787. Or check out our “website update” options on the MYM Austin website here.
To your success…
Brett
PS – For added insight as to what affects your overall search engine rankings, I thought you might appreciate this delightful little graphic from Search Engine Land and Third Door Media. I’ve always been fascinated by the periodic table of the elements, and I thought their little twist to create a “Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors” was clever, insightful and accurate.
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