Mobile Algorithm Changes Can Affect Your Search Visibility

According to an assessment performed by Pure Oxygen Labs, only 56% of Fortune 100 companies are providing any kind of mobile content designed for smartphone users. This minimalist attitude toward optimizing content for mobile experiences could potentially take a large chunk out of these companies' rankings when it comes to where Google places them on search results, due to changes in Google's mobile algorithms.

Mobile industry statistics have shown and continue to support the importance of ensuring high quality optimization of website content for internet-enabled mobile devices, not only because Google's algorithms and ranking hierarchy demand it but also because the users themselves are spending more time on the internet via mobile devices. Just in the past two years, mobile sales have increased 96%, over half of all Americans now own a smartphone, and 65% of smartphone owners use their phone to shop online. Numbers don't lie, and the numbers are telling us that mobile optimization is critical to boosting brand exposure, expanding a company's client base, and increasing profitability on a potentially dramatic scale. So why are only just over half of the Fortune 100 companies providing mobile content? That answer may never be fully understood but the ramifications of failing to provide mobile content can be. Google's algorithms search for a variety of factors contained on a website when determining ranking placement. With regard to mobile content, the biggest change to affect rankings is whether or not a navigation link redirecting a user to an allegedly mobile-optimized page actually returns a page that does, in fact, contain the mobile-specific content the user was actively seeking. If the page does not, it's considered a faulty redirect and can negatively impact a website's search result placement. The Google Webmaster Central blog entry about the mobile algorithm changes provides very detailed information about how faulty redirects and inaccurate link navigation will negatively impact how a company's website performs in search result rankings. All companies that are serious about online marketing should take heed and ensure their sites are fully optimized for mobile experiences to avoid losing ground with their rank placement.