Rivers Rise? Civilization Falls? Will your Mobile Presence Survive? No! It’s not a trailer for a new Spring time action movie, though it sounds as if it could be!
For those business owners who are not Mobile Friendly according to Google Guidelines by April 21, 2015, they should indeed brace for a "Significant Impact" to their mobile search results on that date.
From yesterday's Search Engine Land Article "Google said that on April 21, 2015, Google’s mobile ranking factors will not only label your site as mobile-friendly, but will also use that to determine if your site should rank higher in the search results. Google said this algorithmic change will have a “significant impact” in the mobile search results, impacting all languages worldwide."
If you think 6 weeks to prepare is too short, here's the timeline?
- November 13, 2009: Google Webmaster Central Blog documents the need for a mobile presence. More...
- January 2011: Matt Cutts, Google’s spokesperson at the time, recommended using an M.URL.COM as a reference to a separate mobile site. Acorn began offering the Google’s recommended separate mobile site option shortly there-after. More...
- June 2012: Google officially said responsive Web design is its recommended configuration. More...
- January 2013: Acorn IS began research and development on how to build a Google approved, Responsive design that would meet their many varied standards.
- May 2013: Acorn began offering ONLY Responsive Site Designs.
- November 2014: Google shook up Mobile Search results with a new “Mobile-Friendly” display tag on any Organic Mobile Listing. More...
- February 2014: Google announces that Mobile Algorithm Search Results will go into affect on April 21, 2015. More...
And though this announcement might not quite qualify for an event of biblical proportions, you can see, it truly is The Noah Principle in effect here. Business owners have had almost 6 years (not 6 weeks) of advanced warning to get ready and I do think there are some that are going to find themselves out in the rain, caught in Google's Spring Showers, come April 21st.
