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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”?
  • Website software that’s compatible with mobile (so no Flash, for example)
  • Large, readable text without zooming
  • Content automatically resizes to fit the screen (so you don’t have to scroll horizontally)
  • Large links with plenty of space between each so they are easily tapped
Note: For that info, I quote from a copyblogger article by Demian Farnworth called:  Will Your Website Survive the Upcoming Google Mobile Penalty?

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

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Comments (4)
Debbie Grattan
4/17/2015 at 12:53 PM
One thing I learned while testing my site for "mobile-friendliness" is that it's best to test several pages to make sure each one passes. My mobile homepage was passing originally, but I tested my blog page specifically and it did not pass! We did a reworking in January to make the blog more responsive and get it to pass so it's fine now.

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.
Pearl Hewitt
4/17/2015 at 11:55 AM
Thank you Dave! As usual you are goldmine of fabulous information. I tested my site and I'm happy to say I got an "Awesome-This Page is mobile-friendly" response.
DC Goode
4/16/2015 at 5:41 PM
Well I was not having a very good day to start with and this has made it even worse.
Thanks Google. You suck
Rhonda's Voice
4/16/2015 at 3:10 PM
Whew! Mine is, too! Thank you for this valuable information, Dave. I love your blog! I'm bummed I won't be seeing you at WoVo. Perhaps next Faffcon!
- Rhonda Phillips
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