Seismic forces jarring the very plates on which Google bases its Search algorithm are tearing apart search rankings as the world knows it and swallowing offending websites into the annals of the Internet. Yes, it all sounds Malthusian, but the world's largest search engine has started giving preference to websites it deems "mobile friendly."
It's being called "Mobilegeddon." While it sounds like a new B-movie, it's a very real event that could shake off the power rankings for medium- and small-sized websites - just about all of the large sites were already mobile friendly and thus prepared for Mobilegeddon.
Google gave about five months of advance notice to webmasters, warning that they needed to ensure the content on their sites is mobile friendly to avoid falling in the search engine's rankings.
"We see these labels as a first step in helping mobile users to have a better mobile web experience," stated a Google spokesperson back in November. "We are also experimenting with using the mobile-friendly criteria as a ranking signal."
The changes went live on April 21, though it isn't clear just how much mobile friendliness is playing into search rankings. Google only stated that it was expanding "mobile friendliness as a ranking signal."
"This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results," Google stated in February. "Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices."
Friendly reminders have been swirling around Twitter, telling webmasters of how important it is to make their content mobile friendly:
If you've waited till now to worry/prep for Google's #Mobilegeddon tomorrow, you waited too long. #SEO pic.twitter.com/AU1CJfSgXJ — Kevin Mullett (@kmullett) April 20, 2015
The Google algorithm mobile update hits tomorrow & it should take 1 week to roll out, the next 7 days should be interesting.. #Mobilegeddon
— Andreas Nicolaides (@Dre_Nico) April 20, 2015
And of course, there are those who will weather this calamity:
From @mattmcgee: My 20-yr old Site Is About To Get Zapped By Google’s #Mobilegeddon Update https://t.co/s8cAkQ99dm
— Dustin Woodard (@webconnoisseur) April 21, 2015
For those who haven't "mobified" their websites, it's now zero hour. To regain that former rankings stature, make those desktop-friendly websites more accommodating to mobile visitors.
