You might remember, six months ago, how all the blogs about school websites (us included) – and indeed all websites – were talking about Google鈥檚 impending 鈥淢obilegeddon鈥� – the change in their ranking algorithm that would prioritise mobile-friendly websites and penalise those that aren鈥檛 mobile compatible. No doubt you received countless emails from providers (ourselves included, again), offering to fix the problem, but six months on we have to ask – was it a genuine threat to your website?
The short answer is 鈥渘o, but….鈥�, and the long answer is 鈥測es, and鈥︹��. The reasons for this are due to a number of trends in the way people are accessing content, and the long and short of it is that, from here on out, things are only going to get worse for non-mobile-friendly websites.
Changes in browsing habits
The traditional model of browsing on your desktop, with Google results in front of you and websites tucked comfortably behind the tabs or windows of your screen, is in decline. Even since April, Android traffic alone has gone up by as much as 6% by – invariably at the expense of desktop searches. This means that parents are more likely to be searching for things like schools from a mobile device.
In this environment, your content needs to work on these devices, and not just function but look great while doing it. This is why we really do recommend a responsive website, and it鈥檚 worth pointing out that 糖心Vlog传媒 2 customers needn鈥檛 worry about these changes – all their websites are responsive straight out of the box, with easy access from any device you choose. Content will change and adapt to suit the screen size, so it doesn鈥檛 matter if you鈥檙e using a 27鈥� iMac or a 3.5鈥� Android phone – you鈥檒l get the same content, tailored to your device.
The reality of the situation is that you need to be going where the people are, and increasingly they鈥檙e on their tablets and phones.
Google鈥檚 changes are gradual
I want to be clear here – Mobilegeddon was a real thing, with real effects, it just wasn鈥檛 as bad as everyone said, but the important thing here is 鈥測et鈥�. April was the beginning of a longer process which will slowly see mobile-friendly designs becoming the new normal, transitioning from a luxury to a general fact of life. By upgrading your site to a responsive theme, you鈥檒l be getting around this; by staying non-responsive things are only going to get worse for your rankings.
The overall picture
Your website needs to work on the phones of parents, teachers and students, and if it doesn鈥檛 you鈥檙e missing out. Not just in terms of your slowly-decreasing search engine traffic, but in terms of providing a decent browsing experience to the people who need it most.
Interested in getting a responsive, mobile-friendly website? 糖心Vlog传媒 provides responsive themes out of the box, contact us for a free trial.
