According to a recent report from Pew Research Center, 77% of all American own a smartphone. When they first surveyed smartphone ownership conducted in 2011, that percentage was only 35% – that’s a fairly significant jump in only 6 years.
An August 2016 blog post from Search Engine Land state that Google reports indicated that greater than 50% of global search queries are from mobile devices.
And if you want a bunch more stats on mobile marketing, check out this blog post (but finish reading this one, first.)
So, now I have to ask you – is your website mobile-friendly?
If your answer was “I don’t know,” then test it out at https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly.
Why is it important for your website to be mobile-friendly?
Beginning in April 2015, Google changed their algorithm to show mobile-friendly websites higher in search results that originated on mobile devices. If people are searching for a restaurant or coffee shop or service provider from their mobile devices, then Google wants to make sure they’re going to see a web page that renders well on their device. If you are a local service business, having a website that’s not responsive or mobile-friendly, you could be missing out on business and potential customers.
So what can you do?
Well, if you tested your site with that link I gave you up there, Google has some suggestions of things you can do to optimize your site for mobile traffic. If you have a WordPress site, you can switch to a responsive theme (make sure you do a backup first.) or use a mobile plugin. Switching themes can be tricky sometimes, depending on the theme you started with and what you’re switching to. If it’s been a while since you’ve done (or redone) your site, it might be time to discuss redeveloping your website to make sure it’s optimized for both mobile devices and your target audience.