Last week, Google officially rolled out their mobile friendly update, which basically favors websites that are mobile friendly in their search results. This has caused a bit of a panic. Some small business owners are now taking reactive efforts in making their websites mobile friendly, to keep Google happy. I find it interesting for a couple of reasons:

1. It is no secret that mobile usage is up. Mobile-only internet usage now exceeds desktop-only internet usage in the U.S. In 2014, mobile internet usage surpassed desktop internet usage as a whole. In my opinion, if there were a time to react, it would have been then, not now. We cannot change the past!

2. The mobile updates business owners are implementing are now done for Google, not for users. Those who are reacting now are suggesting or implying that if Google didn’t make an update, then they wouldn’t take their visitors’ experiences seriously.

Do it for your users

I have had a long time belief that the user experience on a website will correlate with the customer service of its company. Good user experience will correlate with good customer service. Good user experience is good customer service.

If Google’s recent update has made you question your website’s mobile integrity, I believe you are justified. Websites should be made mobile friendly especially in today’s age of technology and the ever evolving web. The point that I want to make is that one should be changing their mindset from reacting to what Google does to proactively making adjustments based on your users’ and visitors’ needs.

Tips for the future

• Be proactive. Listen to your inbound marketing specialist, SEO, web designer, or if you don’t have one, subscribe via email to major updates to Google. They will typically let you know when they are making changes.
• Definitely go mobile. Make it easy for your visitors to access your website and information.

Any thoughts? Please comment below.