You may have heard that our mobile devices are turning us all into zombies. That, however, is not what the SEO community has dubbed Mobilegeddon. Patient zero for this search apocalypse is Google’s latest algorithm change which is giving priority to websites that are mobile friendly.

We’ve known for years that mobile traffic is on the rise in all industries. Some of you might argue that higher education traffic tends to be a bit more desktop focused than some industries (like ecommerce or travel, for instance) but even our industry has seen huge increases in the past several years. We at Converge have been proponents of responsive design for years and have seen some great targeting on mobile for digital advertising. This latest move by Google, which starts rolling out April 21st, is proof that these trends are here to stay.

So what can you do? 

Sign up for our free webinar: The Mobilegeddon Survival Kit for Higher Education. The webinar will be May 14th so we’ll have some real data to review the impact on higher education websites. We’ll discuss the facts, show you want metrics to follow and help you build a plan to improve your mobile performance.

Need some more personal attention? Sign up for a mobile web assessment. In this assessment, the Converge team will look at mobile usability, SEO optimization, navigation, current mobile data and more. You’ll walk away knowing how your site specifically rates and which improvements will give you the most impact. We’ll provide you with the data and expertise to take the next steps and engage stakeholders.

While it’s not quite time to panic, remember the SEO is a competition. Users are searching for answers to their questions at record rates and you want to be the best answer possible. Changes like these are great to reward great sites that follow best practices and for many of you, it is a great chance to get ahead! Take advantage of this opportunity and put mobile first and you’ll be sure to not only survive, but thrive in the post apocalyptic world!