Danger Will Robinson! Danger! If you grew up watching Lost in Space in the 60s, you know that no good can come from hearing those words! And, yet, you maybe be hearing them on Tuesday, April 21, 2015!
And, enjoy this clip from Lost in Space!
What’s going to happen?
On that day, Google is going to be making an “adjustment,” affectionately coined as a “slap” where it will begin to penalize web properties which are not mobile-friendly. It’s part of the adjustment to Google’s algorithm which apparently includes 250 or so various elements which determine how a site is ranked. With mobile being front and center in how we do just about everything in our lives, it will play a significant role, so they say, in rankings going forward.
“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.” (Google, Webmaster Central Blog)
Why is Google doing this? The simple answer is … to serve you better.
As a search engine, their number one job is to help customers locate high quality, relevant material. And with everyone on devices, they need to be able to not only find material, but also to see it and interact with it. If a site isn’t optimized for mobile, that task can be impossible. So Google plans to serve up only the best of the best, with mobile-friendly sites getting the most attention and the higher rankings.
Will this affect you and your personal brand?
If your online properties are not optimized for easy viewing on mobile devices, they’ll begin to sink in terms of search. That’s not good and especially if you’ve been diligent about doing all the right things to stay top of mind and sight! You certainly don’t want all of your hard work to go to waste.
What does this mean to your personal brand?
Visibility is everything when it comes to your personal brand. After all, you spend a lot of time, money and resources to continually create, update, and optimize your content. You refresh and re-purpose, you tweak and correct. It’s all about making sure you’re displaying a consistent, relevant and highly visible brand presence so that you can be easily found by those who need what you have to offer.
In the coming weeks, you’ll notice that some brands will sink while others will rise to the top. Those which are not mobile-friendly will likely drop in SEO ranking while those that are compliant will now be the new darlings.
How will you be affected?
The first thing to check out is whether or not you’ll be affected. Is your site mobile-friendly? Most people probably don’t know. If you use mobile-friendly wordpress themes, you might be good to go. If not, there’s an easy way to test your online properties.
Check Your Site: Go to this site and input the name of your website. Google will run a quick scan on it and let you know if it’s not mobile compliant. And, it takes it one step further — it tells you what’s wrong with it so that you can actually do something about it. Check your site now >> Google Site Check
Learn How to Make Changes: This helpful guide will provide additional information on how you can update your software to make it mobile-compliant. Make sure to work with a skilled web developer to make these changes. And, always make a backup before making any changes! Update Your Software to be Mobile-Compliant >> Guide
Here’s a link to a Quick Start Guide that can provide you with helpful tips to remedy any issues you may uncover. Helpful tips for mobile compliance >> Quick Start Guide
You still have time to get your sites updated. Don’t delay. Don’t allow this upcoming change in Google search to upend or send our personal brand to the deep dark depths search. Take care of your brand and it will take care of you!
For information about personal branding, visit Personal Brand Essentials!
To Your Success,
Tara Kachaturoff
