Just under a year ago, Google introduced its mobile-friendly algorithm which penalised non-mobile friendly websites and sent the world of the web into a responsive website frenzy.
Mobigeddon came and went and slowly non-mobile friendly websites started to lose their ranking. It wasn’t the huge bang that everyone feared it would be, but it has significantly reduced the prominence of non-mobile friendly websites in mobile search.
Now, the way the algorithm works is that if your site is only designed for desktop viewing and is appearing on page one of Google for a search term, you are a lot less likely to be found for that term in search on a phone or tablet. With over 70% of all web pages being viewed on mobile devices, this is a pretty big deal.
So a year on and with 4 out of every 5 websites now being optimised for mobile, our good old friends at Google are at it again.
Google stated that this new update will happen at the beginning of May 2016 and is geared towards increasing the effect of the existing mobile-friendly algorithm.
They also stated that just like last time, this update will roll out gradually so you won’t be seeing any major SERP cliff-dives overnight. But I imagine, that just like last time, the effects will slowly kick-in and websites that are not optimised will start to fall away in mobile search.
So what can you do to protect yourself? Well, if you are the proud owner of the 1 out of 5 websites that are not mobile friendly, you really do need to start thinking about getting an upgrade to your website and going responsive.
For more information about responsive websites , take a look at an animation we did a while back that explains things nicely.
UPDATE: If you still don’t think you need a mobile friendly website, you may want to take a look at our recent infographic that shows just how many people are now using their mobiles to surf the internet!
