On April 21, Google will release a new mobile ranking algorithm that will have more impact on search results than any changes made by Google in the last two years.
As Google works to make the web friendlier to mobile devices, SEO will capture mobile and desktop traffic separately from one another. This means that great desktop SEO and a separate mobile-friendly presence will not be enough anymore. If your website provides a poor mobile user experience, it will begin to rank poorly for searches made on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Today, most sites in the travel vertical get around 30% of their traffic from mobile devices. This percentage of traffic has grown dramatically over the last few years and is projected to continue to grow. With the increase of mobile traffic and the impact of Google’s upcoming change to the mobile SEO algorithm, having a single, mobile-friendly website is no longer just important, it’s crucial.
Many websites, even those most recently launched, will lose traffic due to this change. Keeping up with Google’s best practices can feel like an endless race at times, and we’ve created a quick FAQ to help you assess how this may impact your site and what you should consider doing to adapt.