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Google’s Emphasis on Mobile-Friendly Sites – What it means to you

April 19, 2015 by Matt Brown

Mobile Responsive Mockup

Is your site Mobile-Friendly?

On March 26 Google announced:

Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.

So what does this mean to you and your business?

Basically if your site in not mobile responsive – meaning it looks good on any device – then you will be penalized and your ranking will suffer. This will negatively impact your site will because you appear lower, in the results meaning fewer potential customers will find you. Also, it also means if your competitors have a mobile responsive site, they will appear before you, again resulting in a loss of revenue for you and a gain for your competitors.

So how do you tell if your site is mobile responsive?

Just Google your site on a smartphone and see if it has “Mobile-friendly” before the description.

Mobile Friendly

A Mobile Friendly Site

If you see “Mobile-friendly” before your description then you are good to go. If you do not see “Mobile-friendly,” it’s time to make some changes to your site. The first thing to do is to take the Mobile-Friendly Test. This tool was developed by Google, to tell you exactly what you need to do in order to make your site more mobile friendly.

Not Mobile-Friendly

A site that is not Mobile-Friendly – Google Mobile-Friendly Test

Now that you know what needs to be done to make your site mobile-friendly, here is a short list of great resources that can help:

  • Google’s Official Announcement – Google’s announcement on their upcoming update.
  • Mobile Usability Report – If you use Google’s Webmaster Tools, the Mobile Usability Report will give you a full list of mobile usability issues across your entire site.
  • Mobile-Friendly Test – A great tool by Google, if you want to test the mobile-friendliness of individual pages on your site.
  • Google’s Mobile-Friendly Getting Started Guide – This page has multiple guides to help you get started, providing both technical details and advice for working with a developer.
  • Google Webmaster Central Hangout – This is an hour long video with John Mueller from Google Switzerland, who answers questions from Webmasters, developers, businesses, etc about this upcoming mobile-friendly update.

Now is the time to seriously look at your site and ensure that it is mobile-friendly before Google rolls out its update on April 21. Google’s Mobile Usability Report, a part of Google’s Webmaster Tools, is the quickest way to find out how mobile-friendly your site is. If you are not currently using Google’s WebMaster Tools, I highly encourage you to start. They provide a ton of great information related to your site. After that, you need to start updating and fixing your site yourself, if you have the technical skills, or by finding a developer who can do prepare your site for Google’s update.

Filed Under: Business, Mobile Responsive, Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: business, mobile responsive, SEO

3 Free and Easy Ways to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

March 20, 2015 by Matt Brown

Trying to get your new website to appear at the top of search engines can seem like a daunting task. It can be challenging but also rewarding. There are many ways to optimize your site for search engines, some easier than others. We will discuss three things that anyone can do that will not cost a dime.

3 Simple and Free Ways to Increase Your Search Engine Ranking - Created by Matt Brown Designs

3 Simple and Free Ways to Increase Your Search Engine Ranking

First, one of the most important things you can do is create great content. One of the best and most successful ways to create content is simply starting a blog. This gives you not only an opportunity to expound on your products or services, but allows you to actively engage with your audience. Your customers or clients can post comments and ask questions about your post allowing you to engage with them. Not only that, but a simple blog can greatly expand your audience. This is due to that fact that you are creating more potential keywords for which someone may search. This is great for businesses that have a very narrow or niche audience. Follow these three simple rules when creating content:

  • semantically comprehensive wording – simply include relative and related terms
  • length – longer is generally better
  • media enriched content – include videos and graphics in your post

Not only you will see the number of views increase, you should see an increase in your ranking on search engines, according to Search Metrics.

The next thing you can do is become an active member of social media sites. Social media allows you to easily share your content with a much wider audience, since about 75 percent of adults are social media sites, according to Pew Research Center. Search engines use tweets, likes, plus ones, etc to know where and what is good content. This is why 83 percent of Fortune 500 companies have Twitter accounts and have tweeted within the past 30 days, according to the latest research from Dartmouth. 80 percent of these companies are also on Facebook. So, sign-up on social media sites and publish your content to them. The more shares, likes, tweets, etc you get, the higher you will move up in rank because search engines view these as “votes” for you.

The last thing, although often the hardest, is link building. Search engines put a great emphasis on links pointing back to your site. There are a number of ways to get quality backlinks, such as having your customers link to you or creating great content that inspires people to share it.  Another way to build links is to post or comment on other blogs and tie it to a blog post you wrote. You never know, the person may read your post, find it insightful, then add a link on their site that points to your post. You should also add links referencing other peoples websites because they will notice and will probably return the favor. The most important thing to consider when trying to build links is to go after quality links. Two or three links from reputable sites are better than 10 from non-reputable sites. In addition, do not be spammy about backlinks because that will actually lower your rankings on search engines. For even more ways to get backlinks, check out Moz Free SEO Guide.

If you actively start implementing these three things you should see not only your traffic increase but your ranking in search engines increase. You would be surprised at just how fast you can move up the ranks. I have been working with North Main Street church of Christ, trying to boost their rank by applying these ideas and we have seen tremendous results. Our search terms include six variations of the word “church” or “churches” plus the city in which the church is located. In less than a month, we have gone from an average rank of 45 to an average rank of 17, with some ranks being as high as 11. As you can see, with just a little effort you can greatly improve your search engine ranking, which will in turn increase the number of visitors on your site.

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: Link Building, SEO, Social Media, website

Why You Need A Website?

March 5, 2015 by Matt Brown

Small Business Website Searches From http://gomobi.info/blog/05/understanding-consumers-local-search-behavior-new-research-from-google/

Image credits : Understanding Consumers Local Search Behavior

 

Did you know four out of five people use search engines to find local information?

When you want to find something what do you do? Google it! This is why having a clean, professional looking website is crucial. Your website is the initial impression potential customers or clients have of your company. So, it is essential that you make a positive impression. Here a few reasons why having a website is important to you:

  1. Competition.  This is one of the strongest reasons to have a website. Many of your competitors will already have a website showcasing themselves and their services. Knowing that 80% of potential customers start their search online, where does that leave you? Don’t lose valuable customers simply because you don’t have a website.
  2. Convenience. Imagine you are out somewhere and left your stack of business cards at home. How would you inform people about your business? Well, your website is your new electronic business card that is always available and accessible. Not only that, but it gives potential clients much more information about you and your services than a business card. Also, what if someone asked one of your customers for a recommendation? Now, your customers can easily recommend you even if they don’t have your business card handy.
  3. Credibility. Remember, 80% of potential customers start their search online, so your website is your opportunity to make a good impression. A professional, attractive website shows that you are committed to your business and that your customers are important to you. Think of making a website as an investment for THEM!
  4. Building Relationships. Having a web presence is a great way to build relationships with your customers.  It’s easier for you to keep in touch and keep your customers up to date with a website, via newsletters or blogs. Unlike your business hours, your website is available 24/7 so your customers will always have an avenue to contact you.
  5. Advertising. A website is one of the best and least expensive forms of advertising. In addition, you can give potential customers much more information about your business. Not only that, but your website can easily be updated with new content or promotions to keep customers coming back.

Having a website for your business can be a tremendous asset. It provides potential customers an easy way to find you and allows you to communicate important information to your existing customers. If you want to attract more customers and increase revenue, consider creating a website to showcase your business.

References

Google Think Research

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: business, website

Recent Post

  • Google’s Emphasis on Mobile-Friendly Sites – What it means to you April 19, 2015
  • 3 Free and Easy Ways to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking March 20, 2015
  • Why You Need A Website? March 5, 2015

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