Three Google Updates every Business Owner Should Know
~Ken Moody
The year 2017 so far has seen notable shifts in search engine algorithm design regarding website recognition. If you’re like most business owners, you rely on your websites and Google for sales; however, do you follow fast technology changes that can significantly impact your business?
Since most business owners don’t have time to follow SEO industry trends, here are the most important ones you should be aware of today:
- Secure Certificates (HTTPS) — Web security and privacy is always in the news, which is why Google now gives preference to websites using a secure certificate. How do you find out if this certificate is important to your business? Google a keyword that is central to your business and see how many of the search results start with HTTPS. In some of the tests we ran, as many as 9 out of 10 searches indicated HTTPS. The easiest method to determine whether your site uses a secure certificate is to visit it typing in the URL using https instead of http. If you need help adding a secure certificate, call Advanced Online Strategies in Destin or contact your domain hosting company.
- Mobile Responsiveness — Google now penalizes websites that are not mobile friendly/responsive; such websites might even be excluded from search results when searching from a mobile device. To ensure your website is mobile friendly, Google has provided a tool. Use this site to determine whether your site is mobile-friendly: https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly. Notice, however, that even if it passes this site test, you should still check it from your own mobile device as well to ensure the URL emits a click to dial phone numbers and access Google Maps. Otherwise, your website might not be user-friendly enough for most people to contact you.
- Data consistency – While this is not necessarily a Google update, it is a huge factor in determining whether your business website shows up on Google Maps and in search results. Google gathers data from thousands of websites to determine what your website/business is really about. The problem is that some of these websites have old data about your business, such as defunct phone numbers, incorrect addresses, wrong business hours, and outdated branding information. This incorrect data causes confusion for the search engines, resulting in poor map or search engine rankings. You can test to see how your website is listed by using this tool: http://bit.ly/howishowup.
I hope you were aware of these three updates and have nothing to worry about. However, if you have found issues or have questions about what all this means for the bottom line (your bank account!), feel free to contact Advanced Online Strategies at 850-460-2443 for a free consultation.
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