Mobile Friendliness? The Missed Update
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Where was the update the previous week?
It turns out there was no time to do it, due to having to prep another site for "Mobile Phone Friendliness". This is because Google had an update on April 21, that would punish sites that weren't instantly (As in, no pinch/push to magnify the letters) perfect looking on phones and tablets. They would punish such sites by burying them at the bottom of the ranking. In these, the days where searchers rarely go beyond the 2nd page, that would be fatal to some businesses.
Why did they do it?
They did it because they learned that over 50% of searches people were doing, were coming from items that weren't PCs. However, should it really apply to everything? Sure the volume is there (# of searches) but is it really searches for EVERY-thing? Are people buying/looking for/searching bottled water, fresh produce, research papers/articles, pc-only or console-only games, or auto parts with their phones? Why punish those items’ sites just because people aren't looking to purchase watermelons & milk on their phone (and never likely will) ? Probably because, the update HAS to apply to everything, like an on/off light switch. Google probably can’t just ‘exclude’ certain things that don’t make sense on mobile, it has to just blanket punish (with lower or no rankings) all sites not friendly to phones.
What about SonicGear?
It will likely never be mobile friendly, at least according to their measures. The software that builds the site is Adobe GoLive. This software was long-since discontinued by the manufacturer. It has no concept of adjustable elements. The site is also huge (the main point of it is TO BE huge so...) so it can't readily be moved into something else or remade. Hopefully, as is always the worry about the future of such things, all versions of Windows will continue supporting the old program because there's really no other choice but to keep using it.
But won't that wreck it?
Probably not. SonicGear is pretty unique upon the web (seems strange in this day) so if someone's looking for a "Sonic Feve", well...nothing else is likely to come up, mobile or otherwise. If there was no competition, there's nothing they can threaten the site with. It's a research/gallery/archive/museum with unique content. I don't think anything is going to happen to it due to the update. (at least this is the hope, but it seems pretty facts-based)
Item of the week:
Old retail poster from Sonic 1. Stuff like this just doesn't get made any more, likely a side effect of only 2 big game retailers left that aren't an 'everything store' like Target or Walmart that also happens to have games.
Next week:
Unknown. Hopefully more new stuff turns up, it's well into spring season for clothes and there hasn't been the volume of previous years. Stuff is also pretty quiet with the Boom show doing decently, but new toys not really appearing.
Where was the update the previous week?
It turns out there was no time to do it, due to having to prep another site for "Mobile Phone Friendliness". This is because Google had an update on April 21, that would punish sites that weren't instantly (As in, no pinch/push to magnify the letters) perfect looking on phones and tablets. They would punish such sites by burying them at the bottom of the ranking. In these, the days where searchers rarely go beyond the 2nd page, that would be fatal to some businesses.
Why did they do it?
They did it because they learned that over 50% of searches people were doing, were coming from items that weren't PCs. However, should it really apply to everything? Sure the volume is there (# of searches) but is it really searches for EVERY-thing? Are people buying/looking for/searching bottled water, fresh produce, research papers/articles, pc-only or console-only games, or auto parts with their phones? Why punish those items’ sites just because people aren't looking to purchase watermelons & milk on their phone (and never likely will) ? Probably because, the update HAS to apply to everything, like an on/off light switch. Google probably can’t just ‘exclude’ certain things that don’t make sense on mobile, it has to just blanket punish (with lower or no rankings) all sites not friendly to phones.
What about SonicGear?
It will likely never be mobile friendly, at least according to their measures. The software that builds the site is Adobe GoLive. This software was long-since discontinued by the manufacturer. It has no concept of adjustable elements. The site is also huge (the main point of it is TO BE huge so...) so it can't readily be moved into something else or remade. Hopefully, as is always the worry about the future of such things, all versions of Windows will continue supporting the old program because there's really no other choice but to keep using it.
But won't that wreck it?
Probably not. SonicGear is pretty unique upon the web (seems strange in this day) so if someone's looking for a "Sonic Feve", well...nothing else is likely to come up, mobile or otherwise. If there was no competition, there's nothing they can threaten the site with. It's a research/gallery/archive/museum with unique content. I don't think anything is going to happen to it due to the update. (at least this is the hope, but it seems pretty facts-based)
Item of the week:
Old retail poster from Sonic 1. Stuff like this just doesn't get made any more, likely a side effect of only 2 big game retailers left that aren't an 'everything store' like Target or Walmart that also happens to have games.
Next week:
Unknown. Hopefully more new stuff turns up, it's well into spring season for clothes and there hasn't been the volume of previous years. Stuff is also pretty quiet with the Boom show doing decently, but new toys not really appearing.
posted by AzureBlaze at 10:49 PM
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