This article was written by Natallia Hunik, Global Head of Sales at Advanced Markets and Fortex Inc.
Are you aware of a change to Google search that may greatly impact your FX broker marketing?
Natallia Hunik
It’s no secret that we live in a technological world; a world where mobile has long become the prevalent vehicle for communication and business for all of us. Mobile now dominates the world’s search queries and mobile trading is reported to be responsible for around 30% of all trading at FX brokerages, with even higher percentages in Asia. As the world is adjusts to this new reality, the release of mobile apps, for its products, is now a must for FX brokerages and platform providers alike.
The importance of mobile has now found its way into the marketing world and a change is coming at Google, with the company announcing edits to its indexing algorithm, now making a mobile indexing a priority.
In November 2016, Google started testing its mobile-first index search algorithm.
What does it mean for your business? What do you need to change? Here are some answers to the questions you may have about this upcoming change.
1. What does mobile-first indexing mean?
It means that Google will first look at the mobile version of your brokerage’s website for its ranking and fall back to the desktop version if a mobile version doesn’t exist.
2. Why Google is making this change?
Mobile searches are now officially dominating the world’s search and, in fact, more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan.
As a result, Google wants its search results to include, or represent, the majority of its users; those who use mobile devices.
3. Will this have a big impact to my site’s current rankings?
Google says its goal is not to have this indexing change impact the current rankings too much but we will find out for sure once the change is rolled out.
4. Should you change your website’s content?
No. However, it’s best if you utilize responsive design; this is when your content is the same across both your desktop and mobile apps, but its presentation is automatically adjusted based on the device used to view it. Many brokers put less content on their mobile version for the obvious reason that the mobile device is smaller however, with this new indexing change, Google will not give you credit for your content if it’s missing from your mobile version. Also, content that is not presented in a mobile-friendly way will not perform as well.
5. What if my brokerage doesn’t have mobile website?
Well, given the prevalence of mobile use in 2016, not having a mobile website isn’t a very good idea. Regardless, even if you don’t have one just yet, Google says you shouldn’t worry too much as it will index your desktop version instead.
I hope this answers some basic questions about this potentially radical change in the Google search algorithm. If your brokerage has been slow in joining the mobile revolution, now is the right time to take action. Should you have more questions, please contact me at [email protected]. If you are looking to start your own brokerage and need advice, start by downloading our FREE whitepaper.