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Google: Websites Not Mobile Optimized Will Plummet In Ranking on April 21st

Google has announced its new, mobile-friendly algorithm (dubbed “mobilegeddon”) set to launch on April 21st. This change is expected to have the most significant impact on search rankings in at least three years. In fact, the new change is expected to be bigger than either of the major algorithm changes (Panda and Penguin) which had a major effect on search engine rankings.

The fact that Google is giving everyone advanced notice of the changes is enough to know that they mean business. In short, there will be negative consequences to your website’s search ranking if it’s not mobile optimized. How negative? Very negative. Period.

How Significant Is This Change?

In addition to the announcement of the change, Google Webmaster Trends Team Member Zineb Ait Bahajji said at SMX Munich that the new mobile-friendly algorithm change will have more of an impact on search rankings than either Penguin or Panda did. Penguin and Panda were the most impactful search algorithms in Google’s history.

To give an idea of the significance of this algorithm change:

  • Panda launched February 23, 2011, and hit sites hard, impacting 12% of search results. It cracked down on thin content, content farms, and sites with a number of quality issues.
  • Penguin launched on April 24th, 2012, a webspam update, it impacted 3.1% of English queries.

A member of Google’s Webmaster Trends Team has said that the mobile optimization change may impact up to 40% of the websites on the Internet. That’s huge! If your site is not yet optimized, the time to make the change is now and the cost of not becoming mobile optimized is far too risky. After all, Google has told us that April 21st is the day.

How to Know if Google Still Likes You

Does Google consider your site mobile friendly? Find out by visiting our Mobile Friendly Test Tool. Did your site pass the test? If it did, great! If not, we can help!

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Consider the following before April 21st arrives:

  • Responsive mobile designs are the most popular, but a separate hosted mobile version of your site may be an option for you. Google has no preference between the two, so long as a great user experience is offered to those accessing your site via mobile.
  • Can Google’s mobile bots crawl your site? If Google can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.
  • Is each and every page of your site optimized to ensure mobile navigability? Just having a mobile friendly home page is not longer enough.

What If My Website Failed The Test?

Take action. Stay ahead of the curve (and your competition) by following Google’s recommendations. If your website isn’t mobile optimized by April 21st your website rankings may suffer. In the event your website failed the mobile friendly test be sure to contact us to discuss your options with one of our experts. We’ll proactively be reaching out to our customers over the next few weeks… but as you know, the clock is ticking.


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