Is your site mobile friendly? It is a very popular question. Web designers have been asking you for years. Google has been asking you. SEO experts have been asking you more urgently recently. Now Google is telling you to figure it out by April 21, 2015. If you can’t, don’t count on being seen in mobile search results.

Are you looking for a good pizza? An emergency plumber or locksmith? Or the local Whole Foods Market? Chances are you have searched for something like this from your mobile device. If you did, you probably bought the pizza, hired the plumber/locksmith or visited the store. It is reported that up to 80% of mobile searches convert into real sales. So it is imperative for businesses to rank in the top returns on mobile devices.

On April 21st, Google is changing its mobile search algorithm to move sites that are mobile friendly to the front of the list in mobile search. That means if your site is not mobile friendly, it is being pushed to the bottom. You only have a few days to fix your site.

Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly?

How is this determined? There are a lot of factors that Google uses to determine whether or not your site is mobile friendly. The best way to determine is to look at your site on a cell phone. Does your site change its look on a phone or are things to small to read? If your site is just the “mini-me” of your website, chances are you have a problem.

The Google Mobile Friendly Test Tool

Google has a tool that is available to test your site. It’s simple. Just plug your web address into their tool at google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly. This test dispatches the Googlebot to your site and evaluates it. One of the biggest factors it tests for is if the content is wider than the screen. If it is, you will fail. It also looks for details like if the links on your page are too close together. That will cause an issue too. Performing this test (and fixing a fail) is one of the most important digital marketing tasks you can do this year.

What if I fail the Google Mobile Friendly Test?

You just got the dreaded “Not mobile-friendly” bar from Google. You need to address this immediately – even more urgently than taking your car in when the “check engine” light appears. If you are using a content management system, it could be as simple as a theme upgrade. If you have a hand-coded site, it could just upgrading a stylesheet. It could be complex. The best thing to do is to consult a professional web developer. If you fail, fill out the form at the bottom of this blog post and we will let you know why and how to fix it.

Mobile search traffic converts. When consumers search for something on their mobile devices, they act – at least 4 out of 5 of them do. If you want to reach these consumers, you need to rank in search and without the right website, you no longer can. Check your website today.

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