MARKETING 'MobileGeddon' Starting April 21 Will Affect Your Website's Google Ranking April 16, 2015 By Dave Courvoisier Voice Actor & TV News Anchor SEO is not sexy. But Search Engine Optimization - the way Internet search engines do what they do to determine your rankings - is in for a big change at Google. They’re calling it "MobileGeddon” because Google’s algorithm update on April 21 concerns mobile searches. And it may blindside you if your site is not properly "mobilized” now. And you thought getting prospects to your voice over site was difficult BEFORE! Back in February, Google released this warning: "Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.”This should come as no surprise. Mobile is gaining ground vs. desktop/laptop at an amazing pace. Thirty percent of traffic comes from mobile now. [ref. Search Marketing Expo]. What this means is that users will have a choice to seek sites that are "mobile-friendly.” DEFINITION, PLEASE ... What is "mobile friendly”?
NOW ABOUT YOUR SITE ... As a voice actor, you are doing well if your site is already responsive. That means, no matter what device, no matter what size screen, no matter what OS, and no matter what browser you’re using, the content of your site will reveal much the same. Wanna be sure? Google provides an online tool that tests whether your site is mobile friendly. Take the Mobile Friendly Test. (Whew! Mine is!). The lesson for voice actors is this: Even if you disregard the April 21 deadline, your online website content should constantly be focusing on mobile from here on out. Get the responsive site done by a developer. It's worth it. Think simple and uncomplicated. Keep the content fresh and relevant. Encourage interaction and conversation. --------------------- ABOUT DAVE
Dave Courvoisier is an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster, writer, producer, voice actor, and the main weeknight news anchor on KLAS-TV, Channel 8, the Las Vegas CBS affiliate. He also writes Voice-Acting in Vegas, a daily blog of voice over adventures, observations and technology, and is author and publisher of the book, More Than Just A Voice: The Real Secret To VoiceOver Success. Email: CourVO@CourVO.com Web: http://www.courvo.com Blog: http://www.courvo.biz More Than Just A Voice: http://courvo.com/more-than-just-a-voice Your Daily Resource For Voice-Over Success
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I also found when I had the VoiceZam player on my mobile home page (I have a separate site for mobile) it didn't pass, but when I removed the player it did pass. But my mobile voice demos page passed no problem even with the VoiceZam player on it.
So the lesson I learned was to test all relevant pages that could come up in a mobile search.
Thanks Google. You suck
- Rhonda Phillips