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How to Avoid Google's Mobile Friendly Penalty

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by walterhnry, Apr 22, 2015.

  1. #1
    As many of you have heard, Google rolled out its mobile-friendly penalty this week (April 21, 2015). This algorithm update will impact websites that are not easily accessible on a mobile device. I do client SEO, and have a few of my own websites so naturally this was a concern for me. I learned a few helpful hints and wanted to share to help protect your sites from getting hit with a penalty.

    First, it was key to learn that the penalty would effect those sites that Google finds to be not mobile-friendly. I assumed that if my site was responsive that would be enough. Don't be fooled like me, and test your site. Google provides a free tool to take the guessing work out of it.

    Mobile-friendly Test Tool
    http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

    If your site fails the mobile-friendly test then you should take action immediately. Any delay will result in loss of rankings.

    If your website is a wordpress website, then you can find a free plug-in to fix the issue. Jet pack is probably the most popular plugin, and easy to use.

    If your website is built in HTML, you can use a service called go mobi. This service takes your existing site and creates a mobile-friendly version. There is a cost to use this service, and personally I would build a new site as a long term plan. However, go mobi is a quick option to get a mobile presence, and avoid or recover from a penalty.

    Go Mobi
    gomobi.info/

    Please note that I am not affiliated with go mobi any way or pushing a product. As I mentioned, I just wanted to pass on a few tips that I had learned.
     
    walterhnry, Apr 22, 2015 IP
  2. Jim4767

    Jim4767 Prominent Member

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    #2
    Let's keep it in perspective. Google has clearly stated that the "mobile-friendly" algorithm will apply only to smartphones (not tablets or desktops). Here are my stats from Analytics:
    Smartphones bring me about 28% of my total traffic.
    Google search is about 36% of my traffic.
    Smartphone portion of my Google search portion = 28% X 36% = 10% of my total search traffic.

    Remember, Google's "mobile-friendly" algorithm change on April 21 affects only the Smartphone portion of your Google search traffic, not all your traffic. So let's guess that my non-mobile-friendly website loses half of its smartphone-Google-search traffic. That's a loss of half of 10% of my traffic = 5%.

    To convert my ~330 web pages in my Mac software (Freeway 7 Pro) to be mobile-friendly, I would essentially have to rewrite every single page. A Master page change won't get it done. Therefore, my decision is to risk losing a measly 5% of my total traffic rather than undertake the massive rewrite to go mobile-friendly. That's what I meant when I said, "Let's keep it in perspective."

    If your software allows an easy upgrade to mobile-friendly, obviously you should go for it. If it will be laborious and time-consuming, then I suggest you run your Analytics numbers as I did. If your potential traffic loss is likely to be quite small, as in my case, ask yourself if it's worth making the change. Let your own wisdom and circumstances guide you.
     
    Jim4767, Apr 22, 2015 IP
  3. Kushal Shah

    Kushal Shah Active Member

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    #3
    Can you not move to a responsive template instead of re-writing all those pages?
     
    Kushal Shah, Apr 22, 2015 IP
  4. usasportstraining

    usasportstraining Notable Member

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    #4
    Exactly.

    It DOES NOT matter if your traffic does not include mobile devices (currently). Google rewards sites that are "mobile-friendly" with a rank boost. So, we should all make sure our sites score high on the tests.

    You really want to go here: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
    It also explains how to fix the problems.

    Yahoo version: https://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/
     
    usasportstraining, Apr 23, 2015 IP
  5. walterhnry

    walterhnry Greenhorn

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    #5
    Yes... This should be very easy if you are using wordpress. If you have an HTML site that has many pages then this could be a challenging and time consuming task.

    Jim4767, brings up a good point. However that is specific to his situation, and many others could have completely different data. In any case, as a long term plan, I would consider moving my site to a responsive design. Jim4767 may only be losing a small percentage of traffic now, but remember, mobile search has surpassed desktop search in overall volume. This number has grown and will continue to grow. That means, Jim4767 may only be losing 5% today, but what will that number be next year? Also, has Jim4767 considered that moving to a mobile friendly design immediately, could result in a gain? Instead of a 5% loss he could enjoy a 10% gain of traffic. Just something to think about.
     
    walterhnry, Apr 23, 2015 IP
  6. ashumastermind

    ashumastermind Active Member

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    #6
    Hi,

    you can read below mentioned article on "Google Mobile Update"

    http://mobileoptimization.weebly.com/blog/-why-mobile-optimization-of-a-website-is-crucial-in-the-2015
     
    ashumastermind, Apr 24, 2015 IP
  7. darkarcherxc

    darkarcherxc Active Member

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    #7
    I concur; EVERYBODY should be on mobile these days, even if your demographic is not using mobile because it is going to be counted against you sooner or later with Google.

    I found an article on Bloomberg that breaks it down pretty well on how to prepare your website for the Google Mobile Friendly algorithm change:
    http://www.bloomberg.com/research/markets/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201504161652M2______EUPR_____586b000003866124_3600-1
     
    darkarcherxc, Apr 27, 2015 IP
  8. patco

    patco Well-Known Member

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    #8
    It's important doing this, but it's not so a big problem if you don't get many visitors that use smartphones right now.. Do you your own template??
     
    patco, Apr 27, 2015 IP
  9. steveb

    steveb Well-Known Member

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    #9
    I wouldn't call it a "penalty" against non-mobile friendly sites, but rather a boost for mobile friendly sites.
     
    steveb, Apr 27, 2015 IP
  10. EverestOnlineMarketing

    EverestOnlineMarketing Active Member

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    #10
    Thanks for sharing all these info. Jim 4767 has a great point, but I think the future is mobile. Things are headed in that direction, and Google is just one step ahead. There is a need to make changes, to make sites more mobile friendly. We must prepare for the shift sooner or later.
     
    EverestOnlineMarketing, Apr 27, 2015 IP
  11. Auraiya ITS

    Auraiya ITS Member

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    #11
    Convert your whole website into responsive for all gadget & devices.
     
    Auraiya ITS, Apr 28, 2015 IP
  12. Muhit Alam Razon

    Muhit Alam Razon Greenhorn

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    #12
    Jim 4767 good say follow his point. also change your template to mobile friendly
     
    Muhit Alam Razon, May 5, 2015 IP
  13. anirudh agarwal

    anirudh agarwal Member

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    #13
    Good point. But it depends on the niche of the site. I have several blogs which gets 80% organic traffic. In some of my information based portals, traffic from smartphones are more than 50%. And as soon as I made them mobile friendly not only my traffic but my revenue also increased. As well as the time spent by users in my site. So I guess "the juice is worth the squeeze".
     
    anirudh agarwal, May 5, 2015 IP
  14. markjott

    markjott Greenhorn

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    #14
    I have read many blogs on this latest google update and found certain points to avoid google mobile friendly penalities. I hope they can satisfy you with your query.
    1.Place links far enough and allow users they to tap on those links quiet easily.
    2.Choose the font and text size that can be readable without zooming.
    3.Avoid softwares like Flash which are not used in mobile sites.
    4.Ensure viewports fits the screnn without zooming or scrolling horizontally.
    Issues can easily be resolved by updating robot.txt file to remove a block on certain files. These were some mid ways to help you out for sometime.
    But it may be a case that your website needs a whole redesign based around responsive web design and content that will work best on a mobile site… That option of course will take a lot more time and planning.
     
    markjott, May 8, 2015 IP