Mid April of last year, Google changed its requirements for websites to be found via search. A big part of this change involved giving preference to websites that were responsive and mobile friendly – meaning the website can be viewed on many devices and screen sizes while still providing an optimal viewer experience. Owners of websites that did not make the change were told they would eventually be ‘sandboxed’ by the search engine.
It’s a year later, and statistically speaking, the majority of you have been sandboxed. Before the rule change, known as Mobilegeddon, nearly 80% of all M&A and Private Equity websites were not consistent with these new requirements. After the change, still, more than 60% of all firms have not made the needed changes.
What is sandboxing?
In simple terms, sandboxing involves Google reducing your site rank and overall site validity over time, no matter how well ranking or content rich the site may be. Over time your firm’s website may simply no longer appear in ‘organic search’ which means, unless a potential client visits your URL directly, they will no longer be able to find you.
Updating your website can give you an instant leg up on your competition!
It is estimated that more than 1,000 middle market North American M&A firm websites have been sandboxed this year. This presents a huge opportunity for firms considering a website update. Not only will a needed update help improve your overall brand online, but you can drastically improve your own search ranking and search visibility simply because more and more firms are being penalized.
Middle market business owners are looking for firms like yours online at a rapidly increasing rate with a nearly 100% search volume increase for key terms like ‘sell my business’ in the last 5 years. Meanwhile, M&A firms with sandboxed websites are disappearing daily, leaving exponentially more opportunities to competitive groups with compliant websites.
