Google
is about to change the way its influential search engine recommends
websites on smartphones in a shift that’s expected to sway where
millions of people shop, eat and find information.
The
revised formula, scheduled to be released Tuesday, will favor websites
that Google defines as “mobile-friendly.” Websites that don’t fit the
description will be demoted in Google’s search results on smartphones
while those meeting the criteria will be more likely to appear at the
top of the rankings — a prized position that can translate into more
visitors and money.
Although
Google’s new formula won’t affect searches on desktop and laptop
computers, it will have a huge influence on how and where people spend
their money, given that more people are relying on their smartphones to
compare products in stores and look for restaurants. That’s why Google’s
new rating system is being billed by some search experts as
“Mobile-geddon.”
“Some
sites are going to be in for a big surprise when they find a drastic
change in the amount of people visiting them from mobile devices,” said
Itai Sadan, CEO of website-building service Duda.
It’s
probably the most significant change that Google Inc. has ever made to
its mobile search rankings, according to Matt McGee, editor-in-chief for
Search Engine Land, a trade publication that follows every tweak that
the company makes to its closely guarded algorithms.
Here are a few things to know about what’s happening and why Google is doing it.
MAKING MOBILE FRIENDS
To
stay in Google’s good graces, websites must be designed so they load
quickly on mobile devices. Content must also be easily accessible by
scrolling up and down — without having to also swipe to the left or
right. It also helps if all buttons for making purchases or taking other
actions on the website can be easily seen and touched on smaller
screens.
If
a website has been designed only with PC users in mind, the graphics
take longer to load on smartphones and the columns of text don’t all fit
on the smaller screens, to the aggravation of someone trying to read
it.
Google
has been urging websites to cater to mobile device for years, mainly
because that is where people are increasingly searching for information.
The
number of mobile searches in the U.S. is rising by about 5 percent
while inquiries on PCs are dipping slightly, according to research firm
comScore Inc. In the final three months of last year, 29 percent of all
U.S. search requests — about 18.5 billion — were made on mobile devices,
comScore estimated. Google processes the bulk of searches — two-thirds
in the U.S. and even more in many other countries.
BRACING FOR CHANGE
To
minimize complaints, the company disclosed its plans nearly two months
ago. It also created a step-by-step guide (http://bit.ly/1GyC0Id ) and a
tool to test compliance with the new standards (http://bit.ly/1EVi9R3
).
Google
has faced uproar over past changes to its search formula. Two of the
bigger revisions, done in 2011 and 2012, focused on an attempt to weed
out misleading websites and other digital rubbish. Although that goal
sounds reasonable, many websites still complained that Google’s changes
unfairly demoted them in the rankings, making their content more
difficult to find.
STILL CAUGHT OFF GUARD
While
most major merchants and big companies already have websites likely to
meet Google’s mobile standard, the new formula threatens to hurt
millions of small businesses that haven’t had the money or incentive to
adapt their sites for smartphones.
“A
lot of small sites haven’t really had a reason to be mobile friendly
until now, and it’s not going to be easy for them to make the changes,”
McGee said.
BURYING HELPFUL CONTENT
Google’s
search formula weighs a variety of factors to determine the rankings of
its results. One of the most important considerations has always been
whether a site contains the most pertinent information sought by a
search request. But new pecking order in Google’s mobile search may
relegate some sites to the back pages of the search results, even if
their content is more relevant to a search request than other sites that
happen to be easier to access on smartphones.
That
will be an unfortunate consequence, but also justifiable because a
person might not even bother to look at sites that take a long time to
open or difficult to read on mobile devices, Gartner analyst Whit
Andrews said.
“Availability
is part of relevancy,” Andrews said. “A lot of people aren’t going to
think something is relevant if they can’t get it to appear on their
iPhone.”
Posted by : Gizmeon
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