Google’s “mobile-geddon” update was Judgement Day for more than 20% of the web’s URLs. As Google rained down algorithm updates upon non-mobile-friendly websites, many businesses saw their rankings plummet and their traffic disappear nearly overnight.

Now Google says they are ready to roll out a new mobile-friendly update sometime in May of this year. It might not be on the same level as the previous one, but companies should still be aware. If you haven’t gotten with the times, you need to do so soon in order to be ready.

What was the mobile-friendly update?

Google’s mobile-friendly update, better known as mobile-geddon was a massive algorithm update that changed the way Google ranked websites. Those who catered to mobile users were rewarded and websites who ignored it were penalized. In order to be mobile-friendly, websites had to:

  • Use responsive design
  • Use proper font sizes
  • Space buttons and links apart and
  • Use high-res images

Of course, there are many more factors that can influence your friendliness in this sense.

What is the update?

The update is really more of a refresh of their last update in that it doesn’t necessarily change anything about being mobile-friendly as far as we know. The update will roll out slowly and crawl sites page by page to determine who is and isn’t following the rules. If your site is mobile-friendly, don’t worry. If you aren’t, make sure you are in time for the refresh because this is your chance to get back into Google’s good graces. We should see the update start to roll out in May and take gradual effect in the coming weeks. Monitor your traffic and ranking and see if you are affected.

Mobile-friendly statistics

For those that aren’t mobile-friendly: you are behind the times. Mobile now outranks desktop in terms of overall usage and more and more consumers are buying on the go than ever before. Here are a few statistics to drive the point home:

  • Mobile commerce is now 30% of all commerce in the USA
  • 48% of mobile research starts on search engines
  • 80% of consumers use their smartphone to shop
  • Mobile consumers convert 3 times higher than desktop-based ones

If you have gotten with the times and made your site cater to mobile users, then keep up the good work. Remain diligent and keep up with the times. If you haven’t, then get to work because Google is rolling out their next mobile-friendly update in May. You need to be ready for it!