What that Means and What You Should Do
[caption id="attachment_3229" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Photo credit:
mikogo /
Foter /
CC BY[/caption] A few weeks ago, we blogged about the
real-world reasons to make your site responsive. Here’s one more: Google is splitting its search index and prioritizing mobile search over desktop. This is a continuation of the trend that started in April 2015, when Google rolled out ‘Mobilegeddon,’ the update that gave preference to responsive sites in mobile searches.
What does this mean for industrial marketers?
Our clients are often reluctant to make their sites responsive. They simply don’t see it as a worthwhile investment, because CNC routers and melt pressure transducers aren’t things people shop for on mobile phones. However, Mark Van Cleve, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist here at Ecreative, has this to say: “Even if you think people primarily will continue to use desktop for your vertical, eventually you are going to have to consider the importance of a mobile/responsive site because Google will keep prioritizing mobile. You have to ‘play the game’ and give Google what it wants.” The longer you wait to make your site mobile-friendly, the further behind you’ll be in the future.
Is my site mobile-friendly?
If you aren’t sure whether you need to make changes to your site to make it mobile-friendly, Google has a
tool for that.
What else do I need to know?
In addition to making your site easy to use on phones and tablets, there are other things you need to take care of before you can rest assured that you’ve satisfied Google. If your site is slow, you’ll need to make changes, stat – more than half of users will abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. When users abandon your site, Google thinks it must not be very helpful or useful, and it knocks it down in the rankings. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is one way to make sure your site loads swiftly on mobile platforms.
Looks matter!
If your customers visited your facility and saw equipment that was, well, less than state-of-the-art, would it leave them with a good impression? Would you go to a business meeting in a leisure suit? Or Zoot pants? A three-cornered hat? No, because you’d look outdated, right? (Or possibly crazy.) Keeping your site non-mobile-friendly is like dressing up like a member of Gary Puckett and Union Gap: it just doesn’t look right. If your site is old and relies on old technology, potential customers will think you don’t have what it takes to serve them. Play the game. Make Google happy, make your customers happy, and make yourself happy.
Photo credit: mikogo / Foter / CC BY[/caption] A few weeks ago, we blogged about the real-world reasons to make your site responsive. Here’s one more: Google is splitting its search index and prioritizing mobile search over desktop. This is a continuation of the trend that started in April 2015, when Google rolled out ‘Mobilegeddon,’ the update that gave preference to responsive sites in mobile searches.