UK SMEs Haven't Optimised For Mobile

02-06-2015Tags: SEO, Websites

Recent research suggests that nearly half of small businesses in the UK have no plans to optimise their websites for mobile, despite the recent mobile-friendly update from Google.

In February 2015, YouGov partnered with eBay to analyse the usage of responsive design among UK-based small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). The study found that just 30% of respondents had a mobile-optimised website. Less than a quarter (23%) did not currently have a mobile-friendly website but intended to introduce a responsive design within the next 12 months.

Therefore, 47% of UK-based SMEs have no plans to optimise their website for mobile.

Minimal impact on search rankings

The Google mobile-friendly update was heavily debated prior to its release on 21 April 2015, yet barely talked about after it release. Why? A recent opinion poll by Search Engine Roundtable suggests that this is because that the Google mobile algorithm change had no impact to search rankings and website traffic. Only 11% of 1,000 respondents believed that the mobile-friendly update resulted in changes to website traffic or Google rankings. Whilst 65% said there were no changes whatsoever.

Increased sale conversions

For the UK-based SMEs that had invested in responsive design, 45% witnessed an increase in sales conversions, with 8% seeing a rise of more than 20%. This shows that, while it's great to see a slight majority had gone or intended to go mobile, many SMEs in the UK are waiting to see the full impact of the mobile-friendly update before investing their time and money.

Is your website mobile-friendly?

To learn more about the criteria for a mobile optimised website, and how it may affect Google search results for your business, check out Google's Mobile Friendly Test today.