Landing Page Quality: Mobile and Marketing Challenges

We all know how important the user experience can be and Google decided to make it even more important. Landing page quality scoring is changing with the primary focus being on increasing the quality of a users experience. The average webpage supposedly will see only minor effects in the scoring changes if any, so says Google. But adjusting scoring might just be harder than Google would like to admit. The new measures were deployed in South America and it seems Google is testing their shiny new algorithms before global deployment.

Changes for Google Mean Changes for You

So what might this mean to the average business owner with a website that uses Google to advertise and generate traffic? Probably more than we would like to think. So far, most websites have been developed using a conventional process and the user experience was considered important. Now the experience is even more important as the sites that provide a better experience will be scored higher than the rest effecting Adwords. The better the landing page quality the better the Adwords experience should be.

Google indicates the measurement is only slight but numbers speak louder than words. Ranking or scoring high is like the Holy Grail for marketers as we are so competitive. This change will likely influence companies to revamp landing pages which could lead to other changes ensuring the message marketers are sending is fully integrated across all channels.

Mobile pages should be no different in grading quality although the normal WAP site is not as versatile and flexible as a standard website. So is Google trying to get everyone on board with enhancing consumer experience because the mobile experience needs help? Maybe and probably. They do not want to talk much about the changes but I think we all get the point.

But a better experience is, well just better. Redefining and elevating standards is usually a good thing for the consumer but smaller businesses usually pay a price that is sometimes out of reach. Mobile sites will indeed be ranked on landing page quality so whether we like it or not, we must evolve. If you don't have a mobile optimized site yet for your customers on the go then you are in luck and can just build that new site designed to rank significantly better than your competitor.

Helping You Go Mobile

So in their collective wisdom Google has also facilitated the development of a mobile site within Google sites. The official version template is supposed to meet or exceed the important criteria for the new Quality Scores. So my big question to Google is, why isn't there more to guide those using Google sites to make their 'optimized for mobile site', to easily find these templates. In the snippet above it shows I had to search for "Mobile" templates. Maybe put a Mobile template link with the rest of featured templates, just a suggestion to improve the users experience.

But as we all make our way through the quality scoring changes I am sure we will make several adjustments. Early adoption to any change equates to multiple revisions usually. That is why so many people wait to work with newer technologies. Every change means more money and time invested.

Nonetheless we need to press onward and forward so do not hesitate in developing a mobile optimized site. After all we are heading into the biggest shopping season for the year and it needs to be remembered as the year retail came back. Or at least better than economists had expected so don't let other mobile ready competitors steal your customers.

Mobile Marketing Mash -