At this past Water Quality Association (WQA) conference, I spoke about “MobileGeddon” and how the new Google algorithm will affect how your dealership will be found in search results.
As of last Tuesday, Google began prioritizing mobile-optimized websites in search results on smartphones, boosting sites that are mobile-friendly (for example — loads quickly on devices, has responsive design, etc.) and demoting those that aren’t.
Sites that may have been on the front page of a search word may be pushed several links down on the page — if not pushed off the front page entirely.
While this shouldn’t affect desktop and laptop browsing, Google’s news seems to reflect how people are conducting their searches for information these days: On their smartphones. According to comScore, 184 million people own/use smartphones for their searching. Google Search is the fourth most popular app used on their phones (51.5 percent, behind Facebook, YouTube and Google Play).
How does your website measure up? Click here to take the self-test.
If your website is not mobile compatible, what should you do? First — don’t freak out — while this is not life and death today for your dealership, it’s something you need to deal with now, because as we move forward, mobile search will become even more important than it is today (by the way, if you were a restaurant, it could mean your business’ livelihood right now).
To get some ideas on how to move forward, click on this link from Google to get some ideas of how to begin.
I am rebuilding new mobile-friendly websites for both DatamanGroup.com and WaterProspects.com. While you can visit my current sites right now, my new mobile-friendly sites are under construction with a projected May 15 completion date.
Let’s face it, according to Google, 84 percent of consumers use search engines to gather information for local purchases. Bottom line, if your business is buried, that could mean a lost sale.
