How people prefer to consume content shifts every year. As more and more readers choose to browse the web on their phones and tablets, a significant percentage of website traffic is beginning to originate from mobile devices.
If a website is not optimized to be easily navigated on every one of these devices, it will turn away every person who visits the site from their phone. It’s a gamble that they will remember to revisit on their desktop at a later date, but that’s a risk no business should take.
Search Engines Punish Sites That Are Not Optimized For Mobile
Google and other search engines realize that a substantial amount of traffic originates from users who are on their mobile devices. As a result of this, Google will rank pages higher that can be viewed by everybody without shunning those who choose to read on their mobile phone or tablet.
Not having a website optimized for mobile is an easy way to turn away a significant amount of readers or potential customers, but even worse is the hit a website’s ranking can take if it remains desktop only.
Losing Customers To Competition By Not Staying Ahead Of The Game
If a business does not stay on top of emerging marketing trends, it’s almost a guarantee that one of its competitors will. It’s tough to keep a small company profitable and staying ahead of the curve on how readers prefer to browse the internet and how Google ranks websites is imperative when dealing with tough competition.
Perform A Website Audit To Determine If The Site Is Ready For 2016 And Beyond
Audits should be performed regularly to make sure a business is up to date with current trends, social networks and brand messaging, but a complete audit of its mobile website is the best way to determine whether it’s ready for the new year.
Check videos to make sure they play properly on all mobile devices, watch the advertisement and interstitials to double-check they are not detrimental to the reader’s experience and try all external links to confirm they lead to the proper place and do not redirect away from the intended page.
Making the switch to a mobile optimized website is not as difficult or time consuming as it seems and the rewards far outweigh the risks of seeing Google rankings fall and hoping potential clients will come back later instead of visiting a competitor.
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