Google Small Business: mobile optimization

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Tips and tricks for managing your business with Google’s solutions

Fast mobile sites get more customers. Let's help get yours up to speed.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

How long does it take for your mobile site to load? Five seconds? Ten seconds? These few seconds could be the difference between keeping visitors on your site or losing them – because people aren’t willing to wait. In fact, most sites lose half their visitors while loading.1 And 46% of people say that the most frustrating thing about browsing on their phone is waiting for slow pages to load.2
With a little help, we believe every business can have a fast mobile site. That’s why we’re launching a new set of features to test your site’s speed on Test My Site, which will show you:

Your site’s mobile speed: 50% of people expect a site to load in less than two seconds.3 Find out how fast your site loads.

The number of visitors you may be losing: When it comes to mobile speed, every second matters – for each additional second it takes a mobile page to load, conversions can drop by up to 20%.4 Learn how many people may be leaving your site during the time it takes to load.

How you compare to the competition: See how your business stacks up against others in your industry.

How to make your site faster: We’ll email you a personalized assessment with specific recommendations on how to speed up your site.

Taking a few steps to improve your site speed can make a big difference. Yard Dog Fence Company, a Nashville fencing company that specializes in pet-friendly and child-safe fences, took the recommendations from Test My Site to significantly improve their mobile speed. They reduced the file sizes of the images on their site and now their mobile site loads in 5 seconds compared to 26 seconds. For Michael Casper, the owner of Yard Dog, it’s made a real difference: “90% of our business comes from our mobile site. Since we improved our mobile speed, we doubled our sales.”

Making changes like these can help you see a real impact on your business, too – get started now with Test My Site.

Posted by Yong Su Kim, VP Americas, Google Marketing Solutions

1. Think with Google, Find Out How You Stack Up to New Industry Benchmarks for Mobile Page Speed, 2017.

2. Google Webmaster Central Blog, #MobileMadness: a campaign to help you go mobile-friendly, 2015.

3. DoubleClick by Google, The need for mobile speed, 2016.

4. Think with Google, 4 Things You Need to Know About the Future of Marketing, 2017.

Updating Your Holiday Hours on Google?
Easy as Pumpkin Pie.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

To help you make the most of the season, we put together a holiday workshop filled with tips for using the web to connect with shoppers. Preview the section on updating your holiday hours above, or watch the entire workshop at gybo.com/livestream.visit our help center

Help Holiday Shoppers Find Your Business

Friday, October 21, 2016

Since 1992, Werkheiser Jewelers has been helping customers find the perfect holiday gift–from picking out an engagement ring to restoring cherished family heirlooms. While they’ve kept their love for tradition alive, the way they do business has changed with the times.
Today, 78% of shoppers online use the Internet for holiday research.1 That includes jewelry shoppers searching for a gift for that special someone. Alyssa Rizzo-Berg, Media Marketing Manager at Werkheiser Jewelers, explains, “Maybe they’re looking to buy that first big piece of jewelry or an engagement ring. Because of Google, they’re able to find us.”
We all rely on small businesses to help make our holidays special, and we rely on the Internet to help us find the right local spots. Is your business ready to connect during this busy time of year? In the next few weeks, Google and our partners are bringing hundreds of local workshops to a city near you to help your business get ready for the holidays. On October 26th, we’re also hosting a live workshop online with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Join us to learn how to create a free business listing on Google, optimize your website for mobile, and advertise online.

Find a holiday prep workshop near you at gybo.com/holidays - OR - Tune in on Wednesday, October 26th at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET to watch the livestream.

We hope to see you there. And from our team to yours, happy holidays!
Posted by Emily Harris, Program Manager, Let's Put Our Cities on the Map
1. Ipsos MediaCT, Google Post Holiday Shopping Intentions Study, January 2015, n=1,500.

Test Your Site with Google and See How It Works Across Devices

Thursday, June 2, 2016

1 measure your site’s performanceWhy you should test your site234 seeing how your site is performingvisit PageSpeed InsightsWhat your scores say about your site

Mobile-friendliness: This is the quality of the experience customers have when they’re browsing your site on their phones. To be mobile-friendly, your site should have tappable buttons, be easy to navigate from a small screen, and have the most important information up front and center.

Mobile speed: This is how long it takes your site to load on mobile devices. If customers are kept waiting for too long, they’ll move on to the next site.

Desktop speed: This is how long it takes your site to load on desktop computers. It’s not just the strength of your customers’ web connection that determines speed, but also the elements of your website.

Test your site

Posted by Yong Su Kim, VP SMB Sales Americas1. Consumers in the Micro-Moment, Wave 3, Google/Ipsos, U.S., August 2015, n=1291 online smartphone users 18+2. Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, “Internet Trends D11 Conference.” May 20133. Google internal data, for 10 countries including the U.S. and Japan, April 20154. Google, Sterling Research and SmithGeiger, “What Users Want Most From Mobile Sites Today.” July 2012