Photo Credit: Thetrentonline.com
Google released an important announcement that will affect a lot of businesses. The search giant will consider mobile-friendliness of sites as a ranking signal in mobile search results. In plain English: Your company website should be viewed properly on mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, so potential customers can immediately find it when they search for your products or services in Google.
Why does this announcement affect businesses so much? And how does it fit into a complete, 360 marketing communications approach?
In the 4th quarter last year, Google published a new research conducted by TNS called “The Consumer Barometer”, a research on consumer study conducted across 56 countries. Its results showed that when it comes to smartphone use and engagement, Asia is leading the world, especially in Singapore where it is reported to have the highest smartphone penetration in the world at 85%. It also reports that more than half of the country’s population (60%) uses smartphones, making the device far more popular than computers. Nearly 8 out of 10 use 2 or more connected devices, making the country the 4th highest in the world.
Owners of businesses within the region would do well to read on—Smart phone adoption holds true for the rest of Asia Pacific. Two of the top five smartphone nations come from the region as Korea follows Singapore with 80% smartphone penetration. Countries such as Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, and Korea have higher smartphone adoption than computers. Interestingly, statistics show that countries outside Asia are not showing this trend.
The study also indicates that mobile users from countries in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia (35%) and Vietnam (24%), said that their phones are their only device for going online.
Given all these facts, there’s no wonder that online shopping trends are affected as well. A large number of shoppers from this region conduct their own research first before purchasing online and that shopping using smartphones is widespread, as well.
From all those numbers, the whole point is that Google has very much taken into account the prevalence of the use of mobile devices. They have therefore used this trend as an indicator to tune up their ranking algorithm according to what can give mobile users a more comfortable and engaging online experience.
Engaging potential and existing customers is an integral part of a 360 Approach to marketing communications. When reaching out to customers using this approach, it’s not just about sending a message out to them, it’s also about listening to what they have to say in response or reaction to your message. It’s when you are able to listen to, and act upon what your customers say, that you become able to keep existing customers coming back, and encourage new customers to start coming in.
So if you want your business to keep up with this fast-paced development of the online world—and if you want to make sure that your business is able to engage your customers, please, heed my advice: Do not ignore this trend of mobile shift. Adapt to this mobile-first environment if you want your business to stay relevant.
For reference, see actual Google Analytics data for one of our clients:
Ultimately, Google will reward sites that are mobile-friendly. Mobile-responsive websites will be positioned better in Google’s mobile search engine results. In short, this means directing more traffic to your website because your target audience will find you right away. A website’s mobile-responsiveness can make audiences stay longer on your page because it gives them better user experience. This benefits your business as your customers enjoy staying on your site; it may also mean higher conversion rates.
For your website to be mobile-friendly, it has to meet the following criteria:
We run our clients’ websites on Google’s mobile-friendly testing tool to make sure that their sites run smoothly on all mobile devices. And when a website is good to go for mobile, the label “mobile-friendly” will be added when a customer finds your site on Google search. With your website optimized for mobile, you won’t miss a single customer who comes in using their smartphones.
I’d rather not take this lightly. This algorithmic change has already taken effect, which means Google has already expanded their use of “mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change affected mobile searches in all languages worldwide and has a significant impact on search results.
If your website is not optimized for mobile, your mobile organic traffic will eventually decrease. Remember the statistics above? More people are going mobile, while your website will be relying on a declining desktop-based audience. I’m sure you don’t want that.
So now’s the time to grab your smart phones and run a search of your website on Google. Does it have the “Mobile-friendly” label? If not, chances are, your target customers using mobile devices are not even checking you out. Ouch. Tweak your websites now and make sure they fit into a complete, 360 communications approach before you miss your chance of catching that client who’s always on the go.
https://youtu.be/v-0Q4s9ThU0
Let us help you take a 360 Approach to marketing communications that will help your business Listen, Reach and Engage like never before. Talk to us at NEO360 today.
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