What is the biggest algorithm update Google has made over the last decade? For most of us, Google Panda and Penguin
immediately spring to mind. Right? Wrong! The biggest and most notable
change Google has made over the last few years happened, or at least
started today. Unofficially dubbed as "Mobilegeddon", this new April 21
update is focused towards promoting mobile-friendly sites in search
results, effectively turning the tables for various businesses, large
and small.
This new update promises to be a game changer. It will rank
mobile-friendly sites higher than non-mobile-friendly ones. Many
webmasters from around the world are anxious about its release since it
could significantly impact traffic, and could mean an entire reworking
of site architecture and the content contained therein.
Today, we'll look at what this update means for your content, and how
can you adapt your content to meet the requirements of this new
algorithm update. There is going to be a series of changes that you
should aim to heed if you intend to keep producing high-quality,
compelling content after the update has completely rolled out.
1. Headline length
User experience on a mobile device is different than a desktop browser.
One of the most obvious differences is the change in screen size (and
the amount of usable real estate). Currently, a headline can stretch
across the full banner-length of a browser, but mobile screens change
the game when it comes to headline width.
Create shorter headlines. For Twitter users, it just means that you can
practice your 140-character limit more often. For those of us who don’t
use this particular social media network, now is a good time to start.
We need to learn how to condense page-width headlines into more
bite-sized chunks, without sacrificing the impact potential of our
headline.
2. Create short paragraphs
“Snackable content” is something that content producers are all too
aware of, but is especially important for mobile optimization. Create
content that the user can consume in one sitting. However, the format in
which we present this content is likely to be as bite-sized as the
content itself. Because of short attention spans and aversions to “walls
of text” it’s likely that mobile users would feel put upon when it
comes to dealing with paragraphs that fill their entire screen.
What this Means for Us: Learn to summarize your ideas. Keep to the point
and make your copy more targeted in nature. In some cases, such as home
pages, reduce the amount of copy there altogether. Increased copy gives
the user a hard time and makes for difficult reading, especially on a
tiny display. Get your message across in short bursts.
3. Keeping it relevant
This mobile update is likely to make content producers do the same,
paring content down to be less wordy while at the same time
interspersing calls to action. Condensing content will require us to
consider what we write and distill the message in as few words as
possible.
What this Means for Us: Rethink the methodology for creating content. In
addition to making content compelling and benefit focused, we must also
now take a look at the amount of words we use and how often we call to
action. It could possibly mean a change in the basic tenets of web
writing.
The exclusion is blog content– they will always rank and read better in
long form – but for your home and main pages, less content means a
better mobile experience, and happier readers.
You may need to review web writing and revamp some marketing
approaches accordingly to align to with what is expected from mobile
friendly sites.