For years now, mobile usability has been a factor in Google’s search algorithm. Sites that are optimized for use on mobile devices rank higher than their non-optimized counterparts. But until now, this ranking factor has been both limited and ambiguous. From following month, this would not be the case as big changes to Google’s search algorithms are coming.
Beginning April 21, the company will increase the ranking of sites that are mobile-friendly, “significantly”.
According to a recent announcement, the search giant is going to consider the mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor even more markedly in favor of user experience on handheld devices. This change has the potential to impact the mobile search engine rankings (and traffic) of every website. So if you would like to keep your mobile search engine rankings, you better make sure your site is mobile-friendly and responsiveness.
Of course, with so many different ideas about web design, it can be tricky defining what’s truly mobile friendly. For Google, such a page does the following:
- Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
- Uses text that is readable without zooming
- Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
- Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
Spending the bucks in making your site responsive seems even more worthy when you consider the drastically increasing traffic of *online product research from mobile devices in contrast with those coming from desktops. And more importantly, the translation of research of products to the purchase is even higher on mobile devices. The biggest reason for this huge uptick in mobile commerce is the sheer number of people now equipped with smartphones and tablets.
And to be specific, if you run a NetSuite web store made with legacy Site Builder, we are here to help you shift from it to Suite Commerce Advanced which leverages the Responsive Design to build sites that displays elegantly across all devices including desktop, tablet and mobile.
Well, if you are not yet ready for SutieCommerce Advanced, we have another solution, that will keep you on Suite Builder, but your web store will become responsive and mobile friendly! Isn’t it cool?
