Google’s Mobile SEO Update & ASX200
Back on March 19, I was on SkyNews talking about the impending Google Mobile Update with the looming deadline of April 21.
One of the questions I was asked was, will any ASX listed company have an earnings dip in Q2 because they were not ready for this update. I answered yes straight away just as gut reaction, I was thinking that small mining stocks wouldn’t give a rat’s fat clacker about the mobile responsiveness of their websites. For the most part I was right. However I did not expect that 50% of the ASX200 would not be ready for this update either. As I point out in today’s video, there are exceptions to some of the sites on the list we have compiled but for the most part it paints a scary picture for a lot of big businesses.
50% of ASX200 to be hit by Google Mobile update
The team went through and tested Australia’s top 200 company websites to see if they were responsive. 102 of them were not and at least 17 could improve. Some of the most notable, high profile exceptions include some of Australia’s biggest ISPs TPG & IINET. Back in March TPG announced it was going to acquire IINET. They may want to wait until after next week to complete their due diligence on the acquisition. As I have pointed out previously mobile users not only represent a good chunk of traffic they also bring a good chunk of revenue for a lot of businesses. For a lot of the ones we have looked at, mobile traffic from Google organic search accounts for between 15-20% of revenues.
According to an article by Paul Budde in Business Spectator the combined revenues of IINET & TPG is around $1.5 billion. To work out the true cost for these businesses of being hit by the mobile update, you would need to know new business numbers and scrape 20% off the top of that.
Immediate Redemption
As far as we can tell from Google’s announcement, as soon as you are mobile friendly, your pages should come back into the mobile SERPs. If you are still waiting for reindexing here is a great article from Jen Slegg on getting your mobile pages noticed by Google.
Do It For The User
Of course just forget about Google for a second. As we looked at a couple of weeks ago, by being responsive you will probably double your revenue from mobile users anyway. The upside for TPG/IINET is that they not only keep their Google mobile organic revenue, they double their conversion rate for all their mobile traffic. That could mean hundreds of millions on the bottom line for investing a few thousand on some design templates.
The 102 Mobile Unfriendly
To see the associated sites and more details see the spreadsheet
| BHP Billiton Limited |
| CSL Limited |
| Woodside Petroleum Limited |
| RIO Tinto Limited |
| Scentre Group Stapled |
| Brambles Limited |
| Suncorp Group Limited |
| Amcor Limited |
| Oil Search Limited 10T |
| Goodman Group Stapled |
| Newcrest Mining Limited |
| Aurizon Holdings Limited |
| Caltex Australia Limited |
| APA Group Stapled |
| Lend Lease Group Stapled |
| Sonic Healthcare Limited |
| Coca-cola Amatil Limited |
| GPT Group Stapled |
| Santos Limited |
| Leighton Holdings Limited |
| TPG Telecom Limited |
| Dexus Property Group Stapled |
| James Hardie Industries PLC Cdi 1:1 |
| Fortescue Metals Group LTD |
| Medibank Private Limited |
| Qantas Airways Limited |
| Toll Holdings Limited |
| REA Group LTD |
| Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Limited |
| Spark New Zealand Limited NZ |
| Healthscope Limited |
| Cochlear Limited |
| Aristocrat Leisure Limited |
| Boral Limited |
| Ausnet Services Stapled |
| Harvey Norman Holdings Limited |
| Alumina Limited |
| Platinum Asset Management Limited |
| Federation Centres Stapled |
| Challenger Limited |
| Tabcorp Holdings Limited |
| Flight Centre Travel Group Limited |
| Duet Group Forus |
| Echo Entertainment Group Limited |
| Iluka Resources Limited |
| Treasury Wine Estates Limited |
| Ioof Holdings Limited |
| Adelaide Brighton Limited |
| Spark Infrastructure Group Forus |
| Orora Limited |
| Primary Health Care Limited |
| Sims Metal Management Limited |
| Bluescope Steel Limited |
| Perpetual Limited |
| Investa Office Fund Stapled |
| Worleyparsons Limited |
| Duluxgroup Limited |
| Skycity Entertainment Group Limited NZ |
| SKY Network Television Limited NZ |
| Graincorp Limited |
| Seven Group Holdings Limited |
| Als Limited |
| CSR Limited |
| Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited |
| Veda Group Limited |
| BWP Trust Ord Units |
| Charter Hall Group Forus |
| Super Retail Group Limited |
| Nufarm Limited |
| Charter Hall Retail Reit Unit |
| Iress Limited |
| Whitehaven Coal Limited |
| Abacus Property Group Stapled |
| Northern Star Resources LTD |
| Invocare Limited |
| Iinet Limited |
| Seven West Media Limited |
| Aveo Group Stapled |
| Mineral Resources Limited |
| Shopping Centres Australasia Property Group Stapled |
| Independence Group NL |
| Automotive Holdings Group Limited |
| Technology One Limited |
| Oz Minerals Limited |
| Mesoblast Limited |
| Steadfast Group Limited |
| Retail Food Group Limited |
| APN News & Media Limited |
| Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited |
| Ardent Leisure Group Stapled |
| Sirius Resources NL |
| Mcmillan Shakespeare Limited |
| Breville Group Limited |
| Monadelphous Group Limited |
| Western Areas Limited |
| Village Roadshow Limited |
| SAI Global Limited |
| Australian Agricultural Company Limited |
| Panaust Limited |
| Bega Cheese Limited |
| Regis Resources Limited |
| Sandfire Resources NL |
| AWE Limited |
| Paladin Energy LTD |
| Vocus Communications Limited |
| Evolution Mining Limited |
| Virtus Health Limited |
| Cabcharge Australia Limited |
| Arrium Limited |
| G.u.d. Holdings Limited |
| Karoon Gas Australia Limited |
| Cardno Limited |
| Drillsearch Energy Limited |
| Tassal Group Limited |
| Dick Smith Holdings Limited |
| Pacific Brands Limited |
| Senex Energy Limited |
| Bradken Limited |
| Kathmandu Holdings Limited |
Caveats To Our List
Some of the site’s listed are the parent companies of well known consumer brands. We have not tested all the brand sites simply the parent company.
There maybe redirects to mobile sites that we did not detect
Do not use this information as investment advice!
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
