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Google Asks: Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly?
Mobile-Friendly Websites
Google is about to launch a new mobile ranking algorithm for websites. Check out a copy of the email sent to webmasters this month.
What does this mean for website owners? If search engine rankings are important for your business, and you don’t have a mobile-friendly site, mobile version or mobile-responsive site, beware. Your site could drop in rankings. This means reduced traffic to your website and less business coming your way.
Oh no! What to do? Consider installing either a Mobile Module (for CMS websites) to accompany the existing desktop site or redoing your site with a new Theme that is also Mobile Responsive. I’ll explain Themes in more detail below:
What is a CMS Website Theme?
Themes control a CMS website’s styles, look and feel. The Theme system is a way to “skin” a website, allowing for control over the look and presentation of the content.
What is a Desktop Theme for CMS Websites?
Each CMS Theme is developed with a desktop version. Some Themes do not come with a mobile-friendly format built-in. Often this is because it is more time consuming to build and therefore more costly. In those cases, and for many of our clients, we have to purchase, install and configure either a separate Mobile Module or redo the desktop site with a new Theme that is Mobile Responsive.
What is the difference between a Mobile Module and Mobile Responsive Theme?
- Mobile Module – Add-on to the Desktop Theme. In this scenario we install a module that uses content from your current site and displays it optimized to mobile phone browsers, stripped of images and backgrounds. Mobile modules are often mini-versions of the entire desktop site—especially for larger websites—only showcasing certain high traffic pages.
- Mobile Responsive – Has a flexible foundation to the Desktop Theme with fluid grid system that adapts websites to mobile devices, the desktop or any other viewing environment. A responsive theme’s layout adjusts all pages in the site for reading and navigation on mobile phones, tablets, laptop and desktop computers. In this scenario we rebuild the entire site’s Theme (design and layout), both Desktop and Mobile.
To test your site for mobile-friendly attributes, use this tool.
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