How ‘Mobilegeddon’ affects your business

This past spring, Google had the biggest shift in its search algorithm that the world has ever seen.

Meet “Mobilegeddon,” the biggest thing to happen to search in recent memory. Google has made changes to its search algorithm before, but nothing that would affect jewelry businesses in such a direct way.

For some background, Google announced in February that the newest addition to their search algorithm would change the way mobile friendly and non-mobile friendly sites were organized.

What does this mean for you? Well, the long and short of it is the new algorithm actively seeks out if a site is mobile friendly or not, and prioritizes sites that work smoothly on smartphones and tablets.

Why does this matter?
Though Mobilegeddon is a catchy name, the change is no laughing matter. Sites that do not abide by Google’s newest guidelines could find themselves susceptible to both penalties to their page and a possible plummet in their SEO.

Think about the number of people who come into your stores, staring at their iPhones. Now, imagine you were no longer able to reach those people on their devices. Terrifying, right?

While the number of Americans who surf the web on mobile sits at 40 percent right now, Gartner predicts that in 2017 mobile users will become the vast majority of web surfers. Mobile has been steadily growing as an important platform that jewelers use to reach their target demographics, but if your online presence is not up-to-date, Mobilegeddon could spell disaster for your presence in Google’s search results.

What can you do?
One of the best ways to see just how mobile friendly your site is to use Google’s very own Mobile-Friendly Test.

An easy-to-use tool, it alerts you to how mobile friendly your site is and also gives a breakdown of what it looks like on a smartphone. Even more impressive, it gives you tips on how to make your page available on mobile.

Also, think about how people are navigating to your website. Is it from social media posts? Make sure every link that you post from social media goes to a mobile friendly website. After all, 60 percent of social media usage is on mobile devices.

If your site is not quite there yet on the mobile optimization front, don’t fret.

While you start taking the steps to correct it, you can also make