[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #339: Smart(phone) websites

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #339: Smart(phone) websites
June 19th, 2013

google mobileGoogle has a lot of power to control which websites receive 
web traffic and which don't, simply by altering the way they present 
search results. In the past month or so, it has become clear that Google 
wants to advance the development of websites that efficiently handle 
traffic from mobile devices. One way they intend to do this is by 
lowering the search rankings of websites that improperly redirect mobile 
users to special web pages or error pages, rather than using something 
like "responsive web design" (RWD), which automatically adapts the 
layout of a page depending on the type of device accessing it. Does your 
library's website handle mobile users properly?

  * Now Google wants to kill the mobile web
    <http://readwrite.com/2013/05/15/now-google-wants-to-kill-the-mobile-web>
    (ReadWrite/Owen Thomas) "You know those clunky, stripped-down
    versions of sites with addresses that tack an 'm.' onto the
    beginning, and serve up a dumbed-down, limited version of their
    content? If Google has its way, those sites are headed for the
    dustbin of history. At I/O, Google's developer conference held this
    week in San Francisco, executives Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson
    showed off examples of websites that traveled smoothly from desktops
    to tablets to smartphones."
  * Thank you, Google overlords
    <http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/12/google-fixes-mobile-web/>
    (TechCrunch/Sarah Perez) "If you've at all used the web on your
    smartphone, then you're all too familiar with this frustrating
    experience - you do a search, tap on a result for an article you
    want to read, then end up staring confusingly at the site's
    mobile-web optimized homepage. Where is the content you wanted? Who
    knows! It's a huge waste of time and bandwidth to have to deal with
    pages like this when surfing on a smartphone, and Google is now
    going to make sure that sites like that no longer get top placement."
  * Changes in rankings of smartphone search results
    <http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2013/06/changes-in-rankings-of-smartphone_11.html>
    (Google Webmaster Central Blog) "Avoiding these mistakes helps your
    smartphone users engage with your site fully and helps searchers
    find what they're looking for faster. To improve the search
    experience for smartphone users and address their pain points, we
    plan to roll out several ranking changes in the near future that
    address sites that are misconfigured for smartphone users."
  * Mobile site speed to be a Google ranking factor?
    <http://www.webpronews.com/mobile-site-speed-to-be-a-google-ranking-factor-2013-06>
    (WebProNews/Chris Crum) "Google is making it so you have no excuse
    to treat your mobile content with less regard than your desktop
    content. Frankly, sites should be optimizing for mobile anyway,
    simply for the benefit of their users, but if ignoring the mobile
    experience is going to cost sites search rankings, perhaps this will
    light a fire under their butts to do something about poor mobile
    site performance."

*/OPLIN fact (and sneaky promotion?):/*

If your library uses an OPLIN Dynamic Website Kit, no worries. All new 
sites are built with responsive web design, and all existing sites 
should be upgraded within the next year or so.
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