In the past, we’ve shared how you can use local listings, video, and social media to impact your SEO rankings and help you to appear in relevant search results to travelers. While these are all still vital strategies in building your online presence, a recent change to Google’s algorithm could still keep you from being seen online. It’s all about “mobile friendliness.”

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help pinpoint issues in your mobile website.

Current Status of Online Search

We knew before that both leisure and business travelers find websites to be the most useful tool in planning their travel, and now we’re finding that mobile is an important component of this. A study by Webtrends found that 41% of all travelers research travel using their smartphone or tablet mobile devices. If you are looking to capture the 25-34 year-old demographic, mobile is especially important – they are the most likely to complete a booking on mobile and they make up 38% of total mobile bookings. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, then there is a chance that these travelers won’t even see you in search results.

Want Rankings? Get Mobile.

In April, Google changed its algorithm to favor mobile-friendly websites. What makes a website mobile-friendly?

• Easy-to-click links
• Elements that resize to fit any size screen
• Larger text that is easy to read
• No horizontal scrolling or orientation

Google Developers offers a tool to quickly find out if your website is mobile-friendly and what can be changed to make it work well on mobile devices.

It’s Time to Update

In Google’s ranking of websites, content is still key to making a big impression. A highly relevant website to a search query that is not mobile-friendly could still rank higher than a mobile-friendly yet irrelevant website. However, with the growing rate of mobile search, the sooner you update your website, the better.

In need of a responsive website that includes SEO optimization, online bookings, and social media integration? Ask about our new websites that are easy to manage and update and which work seamlessly with our reputation and social media products.