VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Mike Harrison

With Google's announcement of an impending switch to a new algorithm that will apparently list in search results only those websites that are "mobile-friendly," I'm in need of help making a switch from my current WordPress theme to a newer one with a "responsive layout" (a theme that recognizes the device being used by site visitors and displays the appropriate layout; mobile or desktop).

Has anyone converted their WordPress site to such a theme, or can anyone recommend someone I can consult on the issue?

Many thanks!

I should point out that Google's new algorithm will affect ALL websites; not just those based in WordPress. Check your site using Google's free "mobile-friendly" test.
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Mike
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mmellinger · Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 3:37 pm Post subject:

Mike I wish I had advice or a referral for you! I would like to thank you for posting the link though - muchos gracias!
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Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

I use a WP theme and made sure it was mobile friendly.

My results: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?url=lanceblairvo.com

You can search WP for themes, and mobile comparability is one of the criteria. Most of the new themes work great on mobile, even the free ones.
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Mike Harrison · Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 5:32 pm Post subject:

Yeah, when I converted my site from HTML to WordPress five years ago, who could foresee that Google would shake up SEO over the need for "mobile-friendly?"

Starting from scratch with a mobile-friendly theme is one thing. I was hoping to avoid having to do a complete overhaul by finding a mobile-friendly theme that would enable me to convert by making a couple of tweaks here and there in the background, while leaving the existing version online until I'm ready to make the switch to the new version.

I've installed several different themes and used the preview function, but for reasons unknown to me, they all insist on displaying my blog posts rather than the regular content pages, and I can't find anything in the respective theme settings to have them ignore the blog posts.

That's where I need the help. And I know I can get help in the WordPress forums; I just thought that someone here might be able to point me in the direction of someone they know to be proficient.
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todd ellis · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:38 am Post subject:

i spoke with a friend of mine who works for google last night. he told me that there is widespread panic over this new algorithm over nothing, at least not right now. what they are doing (he says) is marking sites that ARE mobile friendly and ... maybe ... someday ... limiting searches on mobile devices only to sites that are mobile friendly. he explained it to me that if lance & i had websites that came up dead even in other areas but lance's site was more mobile-friendly, his would show up over mine. something to definitely think about --- but i don't think there is any need to panic.
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Mike Harrison · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 6:17 am Post subject:

Wow... thanks, Todd! That's great news.

I'd wanted to make my site mobile-friendly even before Google's announcement and, as it turns out, I needed to update it anyway, as the WordPress theme I'm currently using is not only no longer supported by its author, but it seems he's fallen off the planet, too. So doing this will take care of both issues.

After posting here, I also requested in one of the WordPress support forums how to find instructions to make my conversion while keeping the existing content live, and have already been graciously provided with links to everything I need to know.

So... anyone reading this, whether contemplating a similar update or getting started with WordPress, you will find amazing information, help and other resources at https://wordpress.org/.
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Mike
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vkuehn · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 7:41 am Post subject:

heyguido · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 7:55 am Post subject:

Todd beat me to it. Tempest in a teapot.

That said, more and more of us conduct our day to day activities from a mobile device. Good reason to make sure your site is at the very least mobile-friendly.
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ccpetersen · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 10:43 pm Post subject:

FWIW, get a plug-in called "jetpack". It has a LOT of useful utilities and one of them is a little one that makes your site mobile-friendly. If you already have a responsive design, you won't have to use mobile-friendly from Jetpack, but the other capabilities of JP are quite useful.
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Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

Agreed that Jetpack is terrific, just note that it has false positives for reporting sites being down. But I use it anyway!

I focused on being mobile friendly without a thought of Google algorithms - I just imagined a new director or client trying to check me out on his or her mobile device.

Google unceremoniously turned their back on authorship and markups after stressing that they were both a big deal. I'll never trust anything they say or follow any of their fads again. To them, SEO means "Suckers Engaging with Ourselves."

That said, I do what I can to keep up with Google's petty games - but I use Bing and DDG as my search engines. If I show up on them (and Yahoo, Yandex, etc) then I'm doing my SEO right. Google is not organic search, by a long-shot.

Ultimately, just have good content. But yeah, being mobile-friendly is crucial, and it's mercifully not that hard to achieve these days. Smile

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ronharpervoice · Club 300 Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 347 Location: Ohio

There are some folks who can help you at Fiverr. Beyond that, I have used a program called Coffee Cup to re do all of my sites. However, I am an HTML guy, and dontg do much with WP
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bransom · DC Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 650 Location: St. Louis, MO

What Lance said! Your younger customers use mobile devices. Forget Google, it's simply good business to make your site responsive (meaning that it adapts to all the different screen sizes out there) to help eliminate any barrier to buying your services.

And, heck, I'm OLD and I do half of my computing on mobile devices. If I hit a site that doesn't adapt, that wants me to use Flash, etc., I'm gone.
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