What is this Mobile-Friendly search algorithm?
Imagine you are travelling and you feel the need to check the score on your smartphone. You search for a website, click on the first result it shows up and you are taken to a webpage which makes you scroll horizontally all over the place to view the score, hit refresh, tap and zoom to view text etc. Not cool right? Makes you close the browser and hit up an app or text a friend right? Well, It is not your but the website's loss that it didn't make itself mobile screen friendly. This is what close to two third of the smartphone users in a survey reported.
So, how many websites are actually good friends with your mobile phone?
According to research survey only 52% of the Fortune 500 websites are optimized for viewing on the mobile screen. The rest will brute force their way from the Computer to the mobile screen.
Over the past few weeks, Google has been rolling out changes in its search algorithm which primarily uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking parameter.
It means that this new algorithm will scan the webpage (its CSS and Java Script files) for mobile friendliness. Now, how is mobile friendliness defined? Well, here are a few features that make a website mobile friendly:
- Usage of software supported mobile devices (unlike Flash)
- Usage of text which is legible without zooming
- Adapts the content to the screen so that users do not have to scroll horizontally or zoom (Responsive Design)
- Links and buttons are placed so that the correct ones can be easily tapped or accessed
- This change will rank the mobile friendly websites higher than the rest in their search results. Google claims that this change will make it easier for users to get relevant high quality search results optimized for their mobile phones.
What does this change mean for Internet users in India?
Globally, the internet usage on mobile phones is increasing rapidly. According to a survey among smartphone users, close 75% of the users said that mobile friendly sites are important to them and they are more likely to revisit these websites. According to another survey done to understand the source of mobile traffic (website based, not apps), close to half of all smartphone traffic comes from search.
In India, Internet usage has picked up rapidly in the last few years with usage on mobile phones growing faster than that on other devices. According to the IAMAI-IMRB I-Cube 2014 reports, there are close to 270 Mn Internet users currently who access the Internet at least once a month. Out of these, close to 80% of the users access the Internet on their mobile phones. And among these users, a large proportion consider the mobile phone as their main device of Internet access. More than 90% of these users in India access the Internet for general search and discovery purposes followed by communication and entertainment.
Among the users who do not access Internet, one of the main reasons is unavailability of a Computer.
With reducing handset charges and mobile data tarrifs, Internet has been able to make deep inroads in the Indian society. Most of the newer users today begin their Internet journey on a mobile phone.
Thus, the growth of Internet in India will come mostly from Internet on the Mobile phone and this is where most of the consumer - brand interactions will take place.
What does this change mean for the Brands?
Mobile phones are going to be at the forefront of interaction avenues between Brands and their consumers. And the interaction will be very personalized. Therefore, this medium becomes all the more important for the Brands. In the same survey, a majority of the users said they are more likely to purchase or convert post a visit to a mobile friendly site, and 'move on' from a non-mobile friendly one. The users also mentioned that the frustration of using the site might hurt the perception of the brand. Thus it becomes more imperative for brands to have a mobile friendly interaction platform in terms of website, advertisements, processes and transactions. Facebook can be seen as a good example of this mobile revolution. A whopping 86% of their monthly active users are on Mobile. And this has translated to 73% of its revenue coming from Mobile ads.
In India, while the ad spends on Digital medium has been growing at a CAGR of 25% over the last few years, the ad spends on Mobile medium has increased by a CAGR of 43% (IAMAI IMRB Report on Digital Advertisement in India). With the growth in users accessing the Internet on their Mobile devices, the Mobile Internet traffic is expected to increase at a rate of 18% year-over-year.
In this wake, businesses now cannot afford to ignore this trend and will have to change their strategy towards Mobile friendly platforms, advertisements, transaction processes. Failing to do this will affect the rankings and hence, profits.
Thus, from where I see it, this change in Google's algorithm to award Mobile Friendliness and penalise others will result in:
- Brands to have a strong mobile strategy and create more mobile friendly content
- More users coming on the Internet platform through mobile devices and hence, better Internet penetration in India
- Better targeted and more personalized interaction of consumers with Brands
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