How Google’s Mobile Update Changed SEO

This year’s biggest SEO update was rolled out in April. This time, Google didn’t change its algorithm to factor in content quality, links, or local keywords. Instead, it started to assign weight to mobile-friendliness regarding website content. Here’s what you need to know:

Having a mobile-friendly site is no longer optional

Remember when having a mobile-friendly website was considered the icing on top of the cake? A few years ago, mobile-friendly sites were considered a luxury regarding online marketing.

How times have changed. According to a recent Search Engine Journal article, it’s now imperative for businesses to adapt their marketing strategies to mobile devices:

“Creating a mobile site, adapting your mobile content strategy and having mobile on your radar is no longer a choice. Complying to this announcement in a few short weeks means assessing your website, content, and content strategy. With little time left and no concern for whether mobile was part of your Spring marketing priorities or not, anyone working in web is preparing for Google’s update.”

This is the first of many mobile updates

We want to stress that this isn’t just a one-and-done update from Google. Instead, this is likely Google’s first step down a long mobile-friendly path. Even if you somehow survive this update without a mobile site, Google’s future updates will eventually get you.

< vital>You can check if your site is mobile-friendly

The good news is that you don’t have to sit and wait for Google to deem your site mobile-friendly. To know if your site meets the new standard, run your site’s URL through Google’s mobile-friendly test. If you don’t get a passing grade, Google will tell you what to change.

Mobile will be one of the most important SEO trends in 2015.

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