Did you know that on April 21, 2015, Google will drastically change its search? Google will then prioritize websites that are deemed “mobile-friendly”.

What does that mean? Your website could fall behind in being found on Google search if it is not mobile-friendly. Yes, an actual drop in traffic to your website could happen, which would have a significantly negative impact on your incoming business. Entrepreneurs, event planners, and all small businesses should keep this on their radars and make changes as soon as possible. All these changes are described as the trending hastag #Mobilegeddon.

Why, Google, Why??
Traffic speaks for itself. By some estimates, at least 60% percent of all Google searches are now performed on mobile devices. So Google naturally wants to capitalize on this traffic, and create the best possible experience for its users. Google is already rolling out changes based on these criteria. That all just means that sooner than later is better to have your websites updated to “mobile-friendly”.

How to determine your site is Mobile Friendly?
Right now, live results that are currently in place on Google mobile searches. Under my current website link on Google’s search results, check out the gray “mobile-friendly” label in your description snippet, next to my red arrow.

Take out your phone and look up your own website. From your device, this is the easiest way to see if your page is mobile-friendly right now.

The mobile-friendly testing tool below should match the live Google search results. By contrast, the mobile usability reports in the Webmaster Tools might be delayed based on crawl times.

How to check your own website:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Run the Mobile-Friendly Test on Google’s Webmaster Tools. On Google’s own developer pages, you can test your website very quickly. You can see the results as well as read links on Google’s guidelines. You have time to make changes before April 21.

From this article at SearchEngineLand.com, there’s a fairly complete update on the situation. The algorithm will start rolling out on April 21st, and will take a few days to a week to completely and globally.

What are some of the criteria?

Google is looking at actual items on the pages: small font sizes, your tap links to your buttons that are too close together, readable content and your viewports.

The bummer is that Google decides that you are in one of two camps: either mobile-friendly or not, and there’s no degrees of mobile-friendliness in this new algorithm.

For the non-techy: ask your webmaster about Responsive Design. These days, a majority of websites are designed with mobile traffic and computer traffic in mind. Yes, many sites will need to be rebuilt to accommodate these designs. Paying attention to these new rules from Google are critical to keeping our small businesses alive.

About the author: Patrick Duffek has been developing businesses as an entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley for over 2 decades.