April 21st, 2015 otherwise known as Mobilegeddon was a huge day in the technology & search engine world.

While Google constantly makes minor tweaks to the algorithm that determines how they rank websites in the search rankings, April 21st was the largest change they’ve ever made.  For some time now, Google has recognized the rapid growth of Internet use on mobile devices by consumers and encouraged site owners to have mobile-friendly sites by gradually increasing the importance of this is how they rank/score sites.  But on April 20th, Google made a seismic change by making mobile the most important factor in the rankings.  In fact, it’s not just the most important factor, it is now THE FACTOR.

For example, let’s say your website had page 1 ranking for the desired keyword phrase on April 20th of 2015.  Well if you were to wake up on April 21st you could literally find yourself back on page 10, 12 or even 20’s because if your site is not deemed mobile-friendly by Google, your site now goes to the back of the line behind every site that did pass the tests.  Your site could be superior to those sites in every way, better content, on-site and off-site optimization, etc. but if their site is mobile and your’s is not, in Google’s eyes your site is no longer relevant.

So how do you know if your site is mobile?  It’s actually quite simple.  Just go to http://google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly.  Then type your website address into the search bar and within a few seconds, Google will analyze your site and let you know if you Pass (Green Light) or Failed (Red Light).  If you fail it will tell you why and it basically all boils down to how your website looks like on mobile or more specifically a phone screen.  It will tell you things like Fonts are Too Small to Read, Navigation to Close Together, Mobile View Port Not Set Properly, etc.  See examples below of sites that pass and fail.

So if Your site fails the mobile test, it would be imperative that you either talk to your current website provider about upgrading your site immediately to make it mobile-friendly or look into getting a new website from a different vendor who is more focused on mobile performance.  For reviews, recommendations and more, check out the Real Estate Website Vendor section of the RETI Tech Buying Guide.

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