Is Google’s Next Change – “Mobilegeddon” Going to Kill Our Sites?

by 33 replies
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Mobilegeddon is Coming April 21st!

Already a bunch of Internet Marketers (IMer's) are complaining about Google's next big change. Just this week I've received at least 5 email newsletters from big-time IMer's that are complaining about it big time.

Apparently, the Big "G" is sending out notices to site owners that get significant traffic that changes are - a - comin' and their sites need to conform to these changes or else.

For once I'm glad that I use a real basic Google Blogger account for my sites and blog. At least Google owns those, so hopefully that won't change much.

Some of the folks I'm hearing from are WordPress owners and are really bitching about it big-time because their intel is telling them that it's going to be significant.

Apparently, since our computers are mostly hand held now, (tablets and cell phones) Google wants your site to conform to that format. The hell with the rest of the world - what Google wants, Google gets!

As a matter of fact, the senior marketing manager at Kenshoo is calling this new, significant change, "Mobilegeddon" and he said that the last two updates by Google (Penguin and Panda) are going to be pikers by comparison.

I remember years ago, when Google had its last big algorithm change it was devastating to some online businesses. I personally knew 2 million dollar businesses that were totally trashed by the time that dance hit the scene.

Of course if your marketing is only through one means or channel, you're really hanging you butt out to dry.

However, if you've been getting your site to be mobile friendly, then you'll be OK... I guess.

Apparently there are 3 things we IMer's can do to prepare for "Mobilegeddon"

1) Learn the latest CSS3 stylesheet or Responsive website design. Google likes this for playing across all mobile devices, and probably cell phone and tablet engineers will need to keep this in mind as they develop device upgrades,

2) Build an extra, separate website that runs the mobile content through it, thus maintaining their SEO at least on one site.

3) Get started on it NOW. You can't wait on this and expect it to come out OK for you. (Of course, I'm talking to large traffic sites on here. If you are a beginning IMer, then you can feel your way through this a little bit.)

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing from you WF members on this one!

ELMO
#search engine optimization #“mobilegeddon” #change #google’s #kill #sites
  • I'm glad I don't rely on Google for my primary brands. I moved away from SEO long ago for most of my projects and now rely mostly on social media to build my audience.
    • [1] reply
    • I hear ya man.

      I think many IMers get too addicted to just marketing one way. Social media is great if you're using different sites to network, I wouldn't want to get addicted to just FB or Google + and think I was safe either! Ha ha!

      As a copywriter I've used direct mail, Youtube, Blogger, email, and social media. Of course, managing all of this is a big pain in the butt.

      At least I'm not totally dependent on the "Big G"!

      ELMO
      • [1] reply
  • Banned
    Rumor is, it's not just mobile (tablet, etc...), it's only smartphones.

    You can pretty much bet there's no April deadline & the algo. has already been running for weeks/months.
    • [1] reply
    • Agreed. Google already admits that they implement their new algorithms MONTHS before they announce anything. And why is anyone bitching, crying, or anything of that sort about making your website mobile friendly?
      If you really feel that pissed off that you need to make your website mobile friendly, then maybe you're just a really bad, lazy online marketer that has no clue about anything.
      It takes less than 10minutes to make your website mobile friendly.
  • SEO related topics belong in the SEO forum...
    • [1] reply
    • So, you are saying this isn't going to affect or in influence Internet Marketers? I wouldn't have put it here if I hadn't gotten so dang many newsletters from IMer's complaing about this.
      • [1] reply
  • Personally.. I'm looking forward to it!

    I made sure all my sites were responsive a long time ago.. there are still buttloads of old affiliate sites around that are long forgotten about, but still ranking for terms. This change should make SEO a little easier again for new affiliate marketers that aren't trying to do some lame launch jacking

    I'm getting ready to rank like it's 1999 again!

    Michael
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • You're one of the few, Michael. Most IMer's won't be proactive but reactive.
      You da man!

      ELMO
      • [1] reply
  • Just make sure sites are responsive, it's not hard - even if there were no Google, it is only polite to make sites look natural and good on different mobile devices so that our dear customers can view them comfortably without squinting their eyes or zooming in and out constantly.

    The fact that Google is going to reward responsive sites is just an additional bonus. In fact, just concentrate on making your website great for users, THEN focus on SEO e.t.c.. Otherwise you're running a sleazy business, not a company.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Hello,

    To my knowledge Google's main motto is to give best user experience..To achieve this Google wants all websites to be mobile friendly..
  • I do agree that this is going to be a big change and it will affect many, many websites! But, come on, we already knew this was coming. Responsive website designs are not a new concept, Google isn't at fault here because they announced the big change a long time ago.
  • This isn't such a big event that it warrants a silly nick name and several alarmist blog posts. We already knew Google was trying to show mobile sites to mobile users. They're been trying to push you to that direction. And the change only affects mobile search. If you're content with your results in the "desktop" version, mobile is not important to you, and/or you don't want to do anything - well, you don't have to.

    It takes around 2-5 hours of work to make most average sites responsive. At the lower end I'm making the assumption that it's not a "push button" operation that comes from the template. The higher end could be much higher if the site structure is completely brain dead.

    The point I'm trying to make is that this is not exactly rocket science.

    Google's instructions are also pretty good.
  • Useful information, Thanks for sharing.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
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  • I guess my blogger money sites will be ok.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Funny thing, blogger, youtube, and other google props, are already like
      that and have been for years.

      I cannot believe someone came up with "Mobilegeddon"

      If you are really, really worried about this, then your website has
      major problems now.

      FYI: google has already been doing this mobile "algo" in various forms
      for quite sometime.

      Paul
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • I can`t understand people who are in IM and don`t have responsive sites yet - it should have been done since first smartphones came out. If your site isn`t responsive you`re just wasting traffic. And whoever is trying to make it responsive now you still get hit cause Google already have gathered the data.

    Cheers
    • [1] reply
    • Bymarcot, I agree with you, generally. I have an adsense site which gets about 60 percent mobile traffic. It's a static site that I've done nothing to optimize it other than setting view port.

      I was worried about two years ago when I saw mobile traffic ramping up. I thought I'd better get in gear and make it mobile saavy. I did some A/B testing with a responsive layout. I made more money without the responsive layout. I A/B it occasionally still and the old non mobile layout is still winning.

      The bulk of my traffic is from Google and they rate me five filled in circles for multi screen and four for revenue optimization, so we'll see come later this month. Much ado about nothing, I suspect if my crappy non responsive static site fares well already.

      This site would be in the "ugly sites make money" camp. I see all the slick WP sites with the light boxes and sliders above the fold and wonder what for. They aren't productive for what I do and I'll bet they are harder to make responsive.
      • [1] reply
  • First, you can test your website with Google's Mobile Friendly Test

    If it isn't mobile friendly, it'll give you some suggestions on how to fix it.

    Responsive design is the bare minimum, but good for most sites. Adaptive design is better for most e-commerce sites.

    Responsive means your site is resized to fit any screen. Potential problems are buttons too close together or the text becoming too small to read on a mobile device.

    Adaptive means the users of each type of device see your website differently, in a more usable manner for their device.

    And, as others have said; this affects only searches for mobile devices. Tablet and PC search rankings remain the same.

    It's a cost vs gain thing. What percentage of your visitors come from mobile search? It already affects your bounceback rate, now it will affect the number of visitors who choose to click on your link in the SERPs because they will see something next to it that tells them whether the site is mobile friendly or not.

    Funny, as I wrote that I realized that will at least lower the bounceback rate that currently occurs.

    I read that Google will be rolling out separate SERPs altogether to mobile searchers.
  • I suggest everybody that please don't forget to check the google updates daily and done the work accordingly then your website never down like others.
  • I used a service called Dudamobile.com, which created a synced up mobile site from my QuickBooks Consulting site (created on Yahoo Small Business). I spent less than 5 minutes tweaking the new site. It works great and cost $9/mo with the first month free. I don't know how much it costs if you don't have a Yahoo site.
  • Banned
    Marketers complain.

    A better user experience naturally means more sales, so why aren't they focused on doing this anyway? How are the two opposed?

    I'd want the best user experience to drive sales the moment I knew it existed.
  • Google has decided that sites that perform better on mobile devices will get a slight ranking boost for users who are searching on mobile devices.

    It is unlikely that searches from desktop users will be effected at all - because why would they?

    This is hardly a "mobilegeddon" event. Nobody's site is going to be de-indexed over this. You just won't maximize your rankings on mobile search if your site isn't mobile friendly.

    Solution: make your site mobile friendly, and you have nothing to worry about.
  • Well, now that were all safe and snug under Google's glorious umbrella of protection, we can all go back to sleep.

    Rest well, my friends.

    ELMO
  • Banned
    [snore...]

    Maybe now you'll believe me when I said changes rolled out before the public even knew anything about a mobile algo. update.
  • Yukon,
    '
    Ha -ha! I never should have doubted you, my friend.

    Oh, did you hear the latest about Panda 2.2? It's going to bed a massive take over of entire financial industry as well as the Internet.

    Stay thirsty, my friend!

    ELMO
  • It's not a fact. If you are unwary with Google, your site will be killed by .
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