The aftermath of Google’s mobile-friendliness update

Back in April, Google rolled out their mobile-friendliness algorithm update and it was dubbed one of the most significant Google algorithm changes to date.

But 6 months on, what sort of impact did it really have? Was the Google’s mobile-friendliness update really as catastrophic as we thought it would be? Was it really mobilegeddon? Will it have a long term effect for estate agents?

For many businesses it really was as bad as we thought it would be.

Next.co.uk lost 38% of their organic mobile visibility within the first week. Amazingly Next actually had a mobile friendly website; however they didn’t automatically redirect their mobile users to their mobile website. This error caused Google to deem them as “Not Mobile Friendly” which pushed them down the rankings.

This just proves how important it is to get a mobile friendly website right!

Next.co.uk weren’t the only ones to suffer from the mobile-friendliness update; other big name companies included Dell, Reddit and the Huffington Post lost their positioning within Google due to not being mobile friendly.

The aftermath - six months later

On average, non-mobile friendly websites have dropped an average of 5 places since the Google Mobile-friendliness update was rolled out on the 21^st April.

This is a substantial loss in rankings when you consider 67% of clicks go to the top 5 positions. A loss in rankings of this magnitude could result in a considerable loss in traffic, leads and sales.

If you were in the top 5 but didn’t have a mobile friendly website when the update was rolled out then you might have seen a huge decline in traffic and you may have even lost your page one status.

What do you need to do?

It is only going to get worse for estate agents who refuse to go mobile. With more and more businesses making the switch to mobile friendly websites, you are likely to see an increasing decline in traffic to your website due to Google lowering your rankings.

It’s time to go mobile; here are your options to pass Google’s mobile-friendliness test:

1. Get a responsive website

A responsive website is the best option if you don’t have a mobile friendly website. It will provide your users with the best user experience possible and this method is also favoured by Google.

A responsive website is a flexible website that will adjust the content and images on the page to fit the screen size your users are using.

Responsive is the future of web design.

2. Get a mobile website

The cheaper option is to get a mobile website. This is a separate website designed specifically for a mobile device. It has a fixed screen size so technically won’t be user-friendly across all devices; however it will pass Google Mobile-friendliness tests. 

The mobile site will only open when accessed by a mobile website.

 

Whatever you decide, you can’t put off getting a mobile friendly website any longer!