Is mobile really that important? Yes. Due to growing popularity of mobile devices, more and more users use them to search information, browse websites and even buy things. Using tools like Google Analytics you can determine and analyze the amount of visits and revenue acquired through mobile devices. Keep in mind that their percentage will only grow in future, as well as their impact on your business.
As a website owner you need to pay attention to user experience. The main question is: can visitor easily read site’s content and find relevant information? The desktop version of a website might be difficult to use on a mobile device and can lead to fewer visits. Since Google is concerned with convenience and best experience for its users, “mobile-friendliness” becomes as important ranking factor as relevancy, authority and branding.
Do mobile-friendly features impact your search ranking?
Recently Google has added "mobile-friendly" as one of its ranking factors for mobile search algorithm. This update will not impact paid search but only Google organic search performance. If your website does not pass Google’s mobile friendly test, there’s a real possibility that Google could push your site down in the rankings for mobile search customers. So a large number of your users that search information in Google via smartphones and tablets will not be able to find your website, while competitors’ sites that are mobile-friendly could be put higher in the Google search results.
Mobile friendly test: how to check whether my website is mobile-friendly?
This is really simple. Head to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and enter a URL of your website. The tool will give an easy-to-understand response and will also specify reasons why the page has been determined unfriendly, such as small text, link spacing, unspecified mobile viewport, and other mobile usability issues.
How to make a website mobile-friendly?
Mobile-friendly websites have to meet certain criteria like text size, link spacing, horizontal scrolling, content width, etc. There are several ways to make your website readable and immediately usable:
- Responsive web design. It means that page display adjusts or “responds” according to the screen size, using the same URL and code regardless the device type. Compared to other approaches responsive web design uses CSS media queries and multiple cascading style sheets to change the layout of the website appropriately. Whether it is desktop, smartphone or tablet, landscape or portrait screen mode, layout seamlessly reshapes itself without any loading delay.
- Content block positioning. Because of the difference in screen sizes between desktop and mobile devices, it is advisable to reorganize existing sections of content in a mobile-friendly design pattern. Users want to complete their tasks as quickly as possible, so you need to reduce the number of user interactions and keep the most important information at their fingertips.
- Responsive theme. Going mobile may be as easy as selecting a new design. You can install custom theme with responsive layout that will be mobile-friendly out-of-the-box. There is no need to build website from scratch, with new responsive design theme elements will be automatically repositioned to suit any screen size.
- Mobile First approach. The idea is to design website firstly for mobile devices and then expand into pages for tablets and desktops. There’s almost nothing that can be put on a mobile page and can’t be implemented in the desktop version. Mobile first concept is used for responsive and dynamically served websites, where the page content on the mobile and desktop versions should be identical.
- Designing for Touch. It is important to remember that size is not the only difference between mobile and desktop devices. Fingers do not have the ability to hover or right click, so you need enough space between links in order to not accidentally click the wrong one. It is better to use buttons to define the clickable space. Drop-down menus and mega menus have to be redesigned so there is no need in hovering. Also it is recommended to use mobile-specific features (e.g. making all phone numbers click-to-call).
Are you interested in making your website mobile-friendly? Would you like to know more about responsive and mobile web design implementation? We offer a wide range of services, catered towards developing and designing a mobile-friendly and responsive website. Contact us and we will make sure that users have a great experience on your site when they’re visiting from their mobile devices!