We’re well into the first month of 2017 and there is no shortage of action in the world of online search! Your local Gilbert digital marketing team, New Wine Web Design, has as compiled a few pressing predicted and announced changes to search in 2017. Read on to stay ahead of the game.
1. Site Security: From HTTP to HTTPS (SSL)
Google has been pushing for sites to go secure with “HTTPS” for all sites that handle passwords, credit card and personal information. Some have seen Google Chrome showing a bright red x with the words “non-secure” next to your url in the search bar for non-secure sites.. if this goes wide-spread it is certainly something you’ll want to avoid. Last month Google released a note to verified sites through Search Console that had not yet moved to SSL. According to Google, this notice is the “first step in a long-term plan to make all pages SSL.” This is a signal that Google may in the future start penalizing non-secure sites. Even if your site has no valuable information stored, it might be a safe move to go secure your site with SSL sooner rather than later. You may even see impressive gains in the rankings if you do.
2. A Whole New Google: The Mobile First Index
We discussed in a recent blog the importance of the new Mobile First Index, but it’s importance can’t be understated. If you have a mobile website, especially if you have a single responsive website, you are about to have a huge leg up on the competition that doesn’t. Believe it it or not, a lot of businesses still don’t have mobile-compatible websites, and you can be sure that they won’t rank as highly on mobile devices when the results shown on mobile are entirely different than desktop. Read our last article for more information and contact us as soon as possible to revamp your website to a mobile-optimized responsive design!
3. Rise of the AI: Google’s RankBrain
One aspect of Google’s overall site-ranking equation is Google’s RankBrain. This is an individual algorithm powered by machine-learning artificial intelligence to understand search queries and deliver the appropriate results. What does is mean? Focus less on keywords and gimmicks and more on refining the content, presenting it clearly and making it relevant and useful for searchers.
Are you ready to ramp up or fine tune your search presence in 2017? Contact your local Gilbert digital marketing team, New Wine Web Design, today.