Flipkart, Paytm Aren’t Mobile Friendly Websites: Google

Retail2 min read

Google has introduced a change in the way its search engine recommends websites on smartphones wherein it will favour those websites that Google qualify as 'mobile-friendly' and make them appear at the top of the rankings. Some have labeled the changes as "Mobilegeddon."

According to the company, websites that do not meet the description will be demoted in Google search results on smartphones while those meeting the criteria will appear in top rankings. The algorithm will start favoring mobile-friendly websites (ones with large text, easy-to-click links, and that resize to fit whatever screen they're viewed on) and ranking them higher in search. Websites that aren't mobile-friendly will get demoted.

Google's new formula will have a huge impact on how and where people spend their money, provided more people are relying on their smartphones to compare products in stores and look for restaurants.

As Medianama reports, according to Google's new mobile friendly test, Flipkart.com is not mobile friendly and so is Paytm. On the other hand, JustDial and Zomato supposedly have mobile friendly websites. One can take the test here.

However, some mobile-unfriendly sites could still get favorable search placement as Google's algorithm judges sites based on numerous criteria, of which mobile-friendlness is just one. The company's aim is to provide the most relevant results, even if it's to a site that isn't optimized for mobile.

About 60% of online traffic now comes from mobile and Google wants users to have a good experience whenever they click on a mobile link.
The company announced its impending changes back in February, giving webmasters nearly two months and plenty of information to make the changes necessary to keep their sites from disappearing from mobile search results. But the update is still expected to cause a major ranking shake-up. It has even been nicknamed "Mobile-geddon" because of how "apocalyptic" it could be for millions of websites, Itai Sadan, CEO of website building company Duda, told Business Insider.

"I think the people who are at risk are those who don't know about it," Sadan says. To him, that mostly means small businesses. "Come April 21, a lot of small businesses are going to be really surprised that the number of visitors to their websites has dropped significantly. This is going to affect millions of sites on the web," he says.

It's not only small businesses that are going to be affected by mobilegeddon though. Marketing company Somo released a study last week that found that a bunch of big brands, like American Apparel, The Daily Mail, and Ryanair, will all get punished when the change takes place, unless they update their sites before Tuesday.