“Mobile May” is upon us. The Google mobile friendly update that was planned to launch this month is finally here. If you’ve seen some movement to your mobile rankings over the last day or so, there’s a good chance you’ve been affected.
The update was confirmed by John Mueller on Twitter, who stated yesterday that the update was “fully rolled out.”
FYI The mobile changes mentioned here are now fully rolled out. https://t.co/fTB3ia6LJ2
— 🦝 John (personal) 🦝 (@JohnMu) May 12, 2016
Have you noticed changes for your mobile site? Maybe you have; maybe you haven’t. If you have not experienced changes to your mobile site, it’s possible you aren’t doing everything you could to earn the higher rankings.
SEO Inc. is here to help. Allow us to explain all about the Mobile May update and why it’s so important for you.
What Did the “Mobile May” Google Mobile Friendly Update Do?
Just a reminder, Google said the “Mobile May” mobile friendly update would only affect mobile sites. So obviously, it would not affect desktop sites. Furthermore, the update would only increase rankings for sites that hadn’t already gone mobile-friendly. The ranking boost would only be for sites that have recently gone mobile-friendly.
So, to sum up the Mobile May update:
- Affects mobile sites only
- Desktop sites are unaffected
- Only affects mobile sites that were not previously mobile-friendly
Is Mobile-Friendly the Only Signal that Matters Anymore?
Short answer: not by a long shot. The Google Webmaster post back in March restated the importance of high quality content as a ranking signal. “Great, relevant content” would still be worthy of getting ranked well, even if the site is not mobile-friendly.
Obviously you want your site to be both mobile-friendly and a source of great, relevant content, and you want that not only for the increased Google rankings. Remember that the point of Google giving ranking boosts at all is to deliver quality results to users. Mobile friendliness as a signal caters to the large percentage of search users who are on the go. To give users the best answers as quickly as possible, Google has given webmasters yet another reason to make their sites fast and informative.
So yes, rankings are a nice bonus to the work required to go mobile-friendly. But offering a good user experience is the real goal here.
How to Build a Mobile Site that Ranks
Google has resources that can help support your mobile site. However, these tools are only useful for sites that are mobile-friendly already. If yours happens to not be mobile-friendly yet, you’re missing out on rankings — which means ultimately, you’re missing out on visitors.
Give SEO Inc. a call. We can apply our years of experience in search engine optimization, web development, and content optimization to ensure your site has what it needs to succeed on the mobile front and get seen by users.
Don’t delay! Mobile May is here, and the time to get mobile-friendly has never been more important.
