Have you received a message from Google Webmaster Tools recently that tells you to:

“fix mobile usability issues found on your website”?

Sounds bad? Don’t panic! But don’t ignore it, either. It’s important.

Quick solution:
Give us a call or email us, and we can get it sorted for you.

Want to know more?
Read on.

What does “mobile usability issues” mean?

Your website probably looks great on a desktop computer, but hasn’t been designed to work nicely on a smartphone or a tablet.

But my website looks fine on my iPhone / iPad! What’s the problem?

Google takes into account not only how your website looks on mobile devices, but also how easy it is to use on gadgets with smaller screens.

Chances are, if you’ve received this message from Google Webmaster Tools, your website isn’t as easy to use as it could be on mobiles and tablets.

Why do I need to act?

Two reasons, really.

First, more and more people are using smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices to get online. If your website isn’t optimised for this, you risk losing a lot of business – as a potential customer, there’s nothing more frustrating than a website that is fiddly, hard to navigate, difficult to read, or doesn’t work properly on the device you’re using.

Secondly, Google is giving you an explicit warning: it will downgrade your website in its search results if you don’t fix these issues.

That’s a really big deal. Even if you think your website seems fine on your mobile, if Google doesn’t agree, you’re going to suffer. Google will rank your website lower in its search results, meaning that people are going to find it much harder to find your website. If your site falls off the first page of Google results, you will most likely lose almost all your search-driven website visitors. (Statistically, hardly anyone looks beyond page 1 of Google’s results.)

So is this a big deal?

Yes! It’s a really big deal! If Google tells you you’ve got mobile usability issues, and you don’t fix them, it’s going to to hurt your business.

What do I need to do to fix these issues?

The good news is that, in most cases, this isn’t too hard to fix. If your website is built on one of the common content management systems (CMS) like WordPress or Joomla, it could just be a question of updating your theme.

If your website is custom-built, there might be a bit more work to do – but nothing unmanageable.

In either case, you’ll probably need some help from some website development experts. The people who built your website should be able to help.

But if you want more advice, a second opinion, or a quote, give us a call or drop us a line. We’d be happy to help. There’s no charge for an initial consultation, and there’s no obligation to use our services.

Who are stickee?

stickee has been taking care of some of the UK’s leading websites for more than 10 years. We’re based in Solihull, and have clients across the UK. We have a lot of experience with mobile usability, Google search rankings and SEO (search-engine optimisation), and generally making websites perform better. See our portfolio for some examples, or give us a call and pick our brains.