Big Changes Coming to Google Will Affect Small Businesses

Experts from Judge Public Relations and other leading marketing firms are encouraging anyone who has a website to prepare for Google’s April 21 deadline if they haven’t already done so.

Google announced in late February that the way in which sites make it to the top of their search engine results would be changing.

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal,” the Google statement said. “This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.”

“Up until this point, websites have been primarily judged on keywords and content, while the means in which a website can be accessed hasn’t been as important,” said James Judge, president of Judge Public Relations. “With this shift, if a website is not properly prepared, there will be a significant impact to small businesses and the traffic they are used to seeing.”

In order for websites to receive a higher ranking after the scheduled changes to Google’s search engine algorithms, they must be optimized for mobile traffic.

“In some industries, up to 80 percent of searches start on an iPad, iPhone or Android device, and according to recent studies, as much as 40 percent of all web traffic in North America is mobile, so it only makes sense for them to adjust their search engine results accordingly,” said Kyle Klement, a Google AdWords certified marketing consultant in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

If a company is in need of updating their website, it’s not too late, according to Judge.

“Firms like Judge PR and other firms that specialize in online marketing are here to assist with a website’s transition,” Judge said. “We’ll help my making it mobile friendly and ensuring it’s properly optimized for people to find it.”

For more information, visit http://www.judgepr.com.

About Judge Public Relations
Judge Public Relations is a full-service public relations and marketing firm serving Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Clearwater, Denver, Detroit, Fort Myers, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis & St. Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Raleigh, San Antonio, Seattle, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Washington D.C.