Friday, November 25, 2016

Most Small Business Websites are Missing the Boat on Mobile Navigation and SEO

We spotted a Wall Street Journal article ("Missing Out on Mobile") a few days ago and noted a statistic that caught us by surprise: Only 33% of U.S. small business websites are optimized for mobile. It's surprising (and concerning) for two reasons:

First: With the majority of searches are now being made on mobile devices, any website that's not optimized for mobile is driving search visitors directly into their competitors' arms. Why? Because pinching and swiping right and left to navigate a small screen is difficult (and inexcusable) in terms of user experience. People will vote with their feet. In five seconds or less.

Second: Google has been giving clear preference to mobile optimized websites in its search results for the last 18+ months. (We pointed this out in one of our earlier posts.)  Given the clear competitive advantage inherent in better Google search visibility upgrading a business website to work well on mobile devices is an absolute no-brainer.

Here's why: Google's search algorithm is designed (and constantly tweaked) to give its users the most relevant, user friendly, technically sound results possible. (That way, we'll all use more Google services, click on more ads, and grow Google's ad revenue.)  And "technically sound" now includes mobile responsive design.

Based on our 20 years of experience building websites with strong search visibility, we see Google's approach as both reasonable. and, the best starting point for an effective SEO strategy.

Questions about how your website stacks up? Drop us a line and we'll be glad to give it look.