Is Your Local Site Mobile Friendly? Should It Be?

Local businesses often don't see the need to go mobile, but columnist Rachel Lindteigen reminds SMBs that the time to prepare is now.

Mobile usage is growing, and if you think this doesn’t impact you…. you’re very likely wrong.
U.S. smartphone penetration is now at 75% as of December 2014, up from 65.2% in December 2013, meaning that traffic from mobile is likely to be increasing as well. In fact, in late 2014, mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic for the first time.
Mobile device owners aren’t just using their devices for fun, either — according to a report from Nielsen, 87% of smartphone and tablet owners report using their mobile devices for shopping activities. And Shopify reported 50.3% of traffic to its e-commerce platform was from mobile devices with the other 49.7% from desktop in August 2014.
Furthermore, research from Google drives home just how important mobile is to local businesses:

Appearing on smartphones is critical for local businesses. 94% of smartphone users look for local information on their phone and 84% take action as a result, such as making a purchase or contacting the business.

Prepare For A Potential Google Mobile Algorithm

While it’s obvious that more consumers are both browsing and shopping online, it also appears that Google may be preparing for a mobile algorithm update based on some of the recent activities.
Late last month, Google started issuing notices to webmasters if their sites were not mobile friendly. This is on top of the mobile-friendly label they’ve been displaying on mobile search results for sites that are mobile friendly.
With the increase in mobile traffic, it makes sense that Google would want to ensure the best user experience, and sometimes it takes an algorithm update to make that happen. If your site is not mobile-friendly, it could impact your overall performance and hurt your business, so it’s important to know where you stand.
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