Google gave a lot of notice back in November 2014 that they were going to be changing their search algorithms to put more emphasis on the mobile side of things. They even provided a quick little tool to check how mobile friendly your website is.
In February 2015 they stated, "Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices."
[Quick update: And, by pure coincidence, just hours after this blog post, Bing announced they too now have their own mobile-friendly algorithm change.]
So, that begs the obvious question: does your site look great on a mobile device? Smartphone ... laptop (come on, it's portable) ... tablet ... phablet (hate that name!)
Do your website users have to squint to read the content, or pinch the screen in a clumsy way to zoom in and out? If so, you're making them work for it.
Optimize your website, and then ... run a content audit.
Most people have a short attention span. If they don't find the information they want very quickly, they're either taking another step of using your search function (not bad, at least they're still a potential customer) or heading off to a competitor's site (worst case scenario).
Check the new and improved mobile version of your website and be tough. Do you really need all that content now? Is it a little bloated?
In the "good old days" most journalists and writers only had so much space to play with on a printed page. They had to be very tight on their word count, or make the Copy Editor their best friend. (It usually takes a third party objective set of eyes to chop lovingly crafted copy. I know, been there, done that. It hurts!)
Pretend there's no scroll bar on your web page. Or, two screen lengths, top. Make your content fit that size, and it will also be a reasonable length on a mobile view.
Get your call to action in there, make it easy and clear what the navigation leads to and help your website user out.
Herb Communications is optimized for mobile. Resize your browser window and try it out. We can help enhance your content if need be. Just give us a shout.
John.