Category: Development

With the overall convenience of Google as a search engine, it’s easy for us to not worry about how it works and assume everything about it is working to help us. But a recent study published by the Yelp data science team and conducted by researchers at the Harvard Business School and Columbia Law School, reveals that there’s something fishy going on behind the scenes.

Click here to view the full research paper.

To put it succinctly, the research shows that Google often skews search results to display its own content before other, potentially more useful, results. The most obvious way this happens is through Google’s Local OneBox. This is the functionality that you often see on the right hand side when searching for something local. This usually gives you detailed information about a business and a link to its Google+/Google My Business page.

Because of this, businesses that have a Google+ page are almost always displayed first, even if they are less relevant to the search. This is why it’s always important to ensure that your web presence is being handled by someone who understands search engines and knows how to put your business on top. At Skynet, we specialize in SEO. Give us a call at 918-895-1982 and we’ll talk with you about how to make your business more visible on the web.

Paraphrased and summarized from this article: http://news360.com/article/300185046

“Mobilegeddon”, the mobile apocalypse, or so it was explained to us, is over. The Google algorithm update that pushed mobile-friendliness was rolled out on April 21st, so we’ve had a little over a month to see its effects. This update changed how the search engine evaluated and ranked various websites. Clearly Google wanted to improve a mobile users experience by increasing the visibility of mobile-friendly sites and decreasing the visibility of non-mobile-friendly sites. Many online communities heralded this update as the next big game-changer in the mobile world but the results seem to have been less than apocalyptic. Were you affected? Thankfully the aftermath of Mobilegeddon wasn’t quite as dramatic as some predicted it would be. While some websites reported minimal effects, very few, if any, have yet to reveal any catastrophic drop in their search rankings. The rollout was slow and after the first few days a handful of major sites were penalized, but they weren’t completely blown off the face of the Earth either. Instead, they dropped a bit in the search rankings while a few other sites correspondingly rose. All in all, not much shifted greatly. Did you survive? It wasn’t “The End.” This wasn’t the first time that a Google update announcement has caused a lot of unnecessary drama and it certainly won’t be the last. They just want users to have the best possible experience regardless of what type of device they’re using. Google will continue making regular updates and those will continue to vary in scale from the hardly noticeable to the truly game-changing. Looking ahead to future updates, take the appropriate precautionary measures, let the cards fall where they may, and you will survive, but also think of it as an opportunity to advance your business with a website that keeps up with modern developments and invest in mobile technology and mobile marketing strategies because they’re not going away any time soon. What’s next? At this point, if your website still isn’t mobile-friendly, it’s not actually the end of the world, but you may need to consider the ramifications of remaining unfriendly. If your website gains a lot of visitors from mobile devices, it may be worth it to invest in optimizing your site for those mobile customers to create a superior user experience. Inspiring mobile sites are ultimately a good thing for your business and a great thing for the Internet in general. Once you’ve tackled the development of a mobile-friendly site, then it’s time to start looking into some of Google’s latest enhancements: fact-checking and structured data. Contact the web experts from Skynet Solutions at 918-895-1982 for assistance in this new “mobile-friendly” world and we will help make sure your customers have the best experience possible.

The 21st of April is fast approaching! What’s being dubbed across the internet as Google’s “Mobilegeddon” isn’t just any old doomsday device or scare tactic. Ready or not, it’s coming!

Basically, if you don’t already have a mobile-friendly website then you’ll need one and sooner rather then later. Beginning on Tuesday, April 21st, Google will begin rolling out their search algorithm update which they say will have a significant impact on search results for mobile users. Ultimately, they just want to give mobile users the best online experience possible without all the small text, the long load times, the pinching and the grabbing.

In essence, if your website is not considered “mobile-friendly”, there is a real possibility that Google will start to send you fewer mobile search customers after their update. Typically, webmasters see about 30-50% of all traffic, across all client websites, come from mobile devices. And no one wants to see that kind of drop in the amount of customers visiting their site. For the past few years, Google has spent a lot of effort pushing everyone to go mobile. So if you haven’t made the leap to a mobile compatible site yet, this announcement should be your wake up call.

The date is set and the world wide web for mobile users and business owners alike is about to change, but it’s not going to be the end of the world as long as your website is prepared. The best way to ensure that you’re ready when the horsemen of the mobile-apocalypse arrive is to have a responsive website. This type of site only has one domain, rather then a separate one for desktop and mobile, and the design of a responsive website will reformat to fit the screen on which it is being viewed, regardless of whether it’s a desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile device. Current statistics show that mobile-friendly sites have much better conversion rates. They tend to load faster then their desktop counterparts and their ease of navigability offers a better mobile user experience.

Preparedness of this measure, however, isn’t always a quick fix. Unfortunately, responsive websites take time to design, develop, implement, and test. Thankfully the knowledgeable professionals at Skynet Solutions will guide you through the process and help your business build a website that not only makes mobile users (and Google) happy but also maintains your ability to fit well into the future of ecommerce. For more information on how Skynet Solutions can help prepare your website for “Mobilegeddon”, contact us at 918-895-1982.