Last updated on February 28th, 2019
Mobilegeddon. It’s coming and it’s inevitable. Are you ready?
Like a shiver that runs down your spine, the term “mobilegeddon” has been creeping into all the major SEO blogs and forums and describes the impending Google algorithm update that is expected to boost mobile-ready sites and punish websites who don’t fall in line.
This move by the world’s most popular search engine is seen as the “next step” into the future of online search according to the company. Seeing as almost 9 in 10 U.S. teens have access to some kind of mobile device, it’s hard to argue otherwise. However, a recent crawl found that 40% of the top 25,000 websites are not mobile-friendly. Quite a few webmasters could be in for a shock in the coming weeks…
How soon? Mark your calendars because Google will be rolling out its mobile-friendly algorithm update on Tuesday, April 21st. If you haven’t already, stop procrastinating and start preparing your sites now for the change – there are countless online resources on how to do so, including here, here and here.
Keep reading for other (less apocalyptic) SEO news, guides and headlines from the last couple weeks.
Search Engine News
- Bing managed to pull down Yahoo and Google’s control over the search market ever so slightly by attaining a 20% share of the search market in the U.S. This milestone primarily came at the expense of Yahoo.
- Yahoo and Microsoft have finally made peace after 6 years of “rough patches” with the forging of a new agreement between the two companies. The new partnership expands Yahoo’s control over their search platform and changes the way both Yahoo and Bing ads appear on desktop and mobile devices.
- Yandex, Russia’s largest search engine, is attempting to clean up the mess they made last year by reconsidering links as a major ranking factor and penalizing websites with paid links. The algorithm update is slated for May.
- Google recently announced an important change in how URLs will be displayed in mobile search results – they won’t be. Instead of a domain name, mobile users will see the “real world” name of the site as a breadcrumb. See how the update will look here.
SEO
- If you’ve been doing SEO since the beginning, then you have seen countless SEO tools come and go. The trick is how do you decide which tools are helpful and which aren’t worth a single minute? For starters, take a look at this guide of the best SEO tools in 2015.
- The Zazzle Media team has been monitoring recent data trends, and they believe one, in particular, is “a major shift in the way results are presented, and it’s resulting in more traffic for the long tail.” Check out the case study on Moz.
- To beat the enemy, first you have to understand them. It’s not just a military tactic, but also an SEO strategy. This post talks about how you can use competitive link data to form your own internet marketing plan.
Website Design
- Why should businesses invest in responsive website design? Because Google says so… Of course, there are many other reasons why responsive web design is essential in 2015, as this article discusses.
Copy Corner
- Look up at that SEO team! Is it a bird? A plane? No, it’s a copy editor! Good copy editors are superheroes for marketing companies who want to avoid the embarrassment and cost of typos and a bad image. Find out what 5 superpowers these silent saviors of marketing should possess.
- To repeat or rewrite – that is the question. Use these questions to discover the answer.
- Learn how to use term frequency analysis to get the full picture of your content’s quality – including titles, keywords, meta descriptions and the entire page experience for the user.
Analytics
- Check out these Best Practices to get a better understanding of Google Analytics’ latest iteration, Universal Analytics.
- Google’s Tag Manager will be getting a facelift soon, as they announced on March 30th. Find out what you need to know about Version 2 in this article.
Feel free to drop any other relevant links or comments below. Until next time, may the SEO be with you!