June 2015

Last month when Google announced an algorithm change that penalized non-mobile websites, it was dubbed “Mobilegeddon,” and everyone was scrambling to ensure their sites were mobile-friendly in order to perform well in mobile search.

In the time since that update, mixed reports have emerged about the impacts this algorithm has had on mobile website traffic. Because a sudden impact wasn’t noticed, many have assumed that they don’t need to worry yet about compliance with the mobile-friendly mandate Google set. In reality, “Mobilegeddon” is just one example that illustrates how much mobile has changed consumer behavior and Internet search behavior. In fact, the search engine Bing recently announced intentions to implement its own mobile-friendly algorithm.

Here are three reasons why local businesses should consider a mobile website a critical part of doing business.

SEO can be a bit of a beast. Everyone has their own methods and strategies and advice to give out to anyone who will listen. If you’re like me, you like visually appealing info-graphics that can print nicely and be hung on the wall for reference. The folks at Search Engine Land with Column Five Media have provided a very handy graphic and made my dream come true. Don’t panic; this isn’t high school chemistry class! Each “element” is a key ranking factor to consider to ensure your efforts are producing the best possible results.

The graphic notes both On-The-Page and Off-The-Page SEO factors that help and hurt your performance with a question fixed to each, allowing you to match your efforts against the table. Positive elements include crawl (Ac, “Can search engines easily ‘crawl’ pages on site?”) and negative factors include purchased links (Vp, “Have you purchased links in hopes of better rankings?”).