Google says you best be mobile - friendly by April 21

Google Webmaster Tools is sending out notifications to web site owners lacking mobile-friendly sites in advance of the April 21st algorithm change that will penalize sites that are not mobile-friendly in mobile search results (this is not expected to affect desktop or tablet). In order to avoid getting penalized, a site does not have to be responsive - just mobile-friendly. If you have a separate mobile site, you should be okay.  

bit.ly/g-mob-algo 

We expect to see significant decreases in mobile search traffic with the clients who don't have mobile-friendly web sites.

I’ve spoken to many cascade clients and site owners that have chosen to kick the mobile-friendly/mobile-responsive can down the road.  It appears the time to sit on such a transition has passed with April 21 quickly approaching.

The good news is that Google is expected to act quickly following deadline.  So once you make this important switch, the response in mobile Google search results should be rapid.

Some additional compelling data on this topic includes:

• Depending on the source, 35%-50% of email is first opened on a smartphone. This trend is growing rapidly and expected to be 80% by 2018.  To the extent you are driving email members to your site via email, this is an important trend to consider.
• Social media is largely a mobile experience.  Again, if driving users to your web site from social channels, its wise to send them to a place that serves a positive experience.

To sum it up, the forces are conspiring to encourage web site owners to offer up a positive mobile experience for users, or prepare to pay the price.  

On the flip-side, if your site is mobile-friendly, you stand to be rewarded by increasingly finicky web users and effectively, less competition.

Either way, we’re here to help navigate this path with you.