Google’s changing the rules… again

Awhile back, I wrote a blog post about how Google would be notifying site owners who use webmaster tools if their site wasn’t mobile-friendly. This has been happening, I’ve seen a number of these. (Full disclosure, when we started building websites, smart phones didn’t exist so doing responsive sites was not on our radar. So plenty of sites we’ve created in the past are not responsive.)

Google has been notifying people to alert them that their website isn’t meeting those guidelines, but they are going one step further. As of April 21st, they are changing their algorithm so that sites that are not responsive will not be ranked as favorably as those at are. That’s right, if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you may dropping in the search engines. And for those people who have worked hard to achieve their rank, this is a big deal.

So what should you do?

First, check to see if Google considers your site mobile-friendly or not. Follow this link and use their test tool to see. If you are worried because your site uses a mobile plugin rather than being fully responsive, I have good news. I have tested sites that are responsive and sites that use the WPTouch plugin for mobile users, and both do come up as mobile-friendly using the test tool. So that’s good news.

If your site doesn’t pass the test, then you need to make a plan and make it pronto, because time is running out. If you don’t have time to transition to a responsive site (which is the ideal solution) then I recommend using a plugin like WPTouch plugin.  It’s reasonably priced and gives you lots of options for making the site look good on phones. Our own site at sumydesigns.com is responsive, but for an example of a site that use WPTouch for mobile-friendliness, check out Nashville Paddle or Hemswell Sunday Market.

Need help getting your WordPress site mobile-friendly? Contact us today. We can do it!