So, you went and made a website. Congratulations! We bet it looks amazing on your office desktop – but really, what matters is that it looks amazing to your customers. And there’s a pretty good chance they’ll be using a smartphone to browse your site, what with the year being 2018 and all.

If your website doesn’t look right on mobile, you might end up losing a good chunk of visitors and potential customers. No one wants that.

 

4 reasons why mobile optimisation matters

  1. You will be missing out on a huge share of the market: Worldwide Internet usage is now predominantly mobile, and 51.6% of pages were loaded on a smartphone or tablet in October 2016. All these mobile users are potential customers – so you need to meet them where they already are. (On mobile, not at Wetherspoons.)
  2. Google favours mobile-friendly websites: Google’s algorithm famously sends website owners into a panic with every update. In 2015, “Mobilegeddon” saw the search engine roll out updates that penalise websites if they’re not mobile-optimised – meaning you’re less likely to show in the search results on mobile devices.
  3. It helps build credibility and reputation: Giving your visitors a positive experience on both mobile and desktop is essential if you want to be seen as a credible and reliable website. Happy customers are also more likely to talk about you positively in real life, helping build your offline reputation.
  4. It gives you an edge on the competition: No matter what your business offers (except maybe if you’re selling fax machines), having a strong mobile Internet presence will make you look modern and tech-savvy, and help you reach those mobile users before your competitors.

 

Is your website mobile-friendly?

Who knows, right? If only there was a way to know for sure how your site looks on mobile. Wait – what’s that we hear about Google’s mobile-friendly test tool?

Simply paste your website URL into the box, hit the Analyze button, and you’ll receive one of either answers: yes, your site is definitely, awesomely mobile-friendly, or… not. If you get the red “not mobile friendly” message, it’s time to get started on optimising your website.

 

How to optimise your website for mobile

If the Google test tool declared your website to not be awesome enough, it might be due to a number of reasons. Common errors include:

  • Text too small to read
  • Mobile viewport not set
  • Dependence on plugins
  • Links too close together
  • Content wider than screen
  • Load times too long

In the past, businesses tended to create a second, mobile-only website using a conversion platform – but apart from the fact it gives you twice as much work to do, you could also be penalised by Google for having duplicate content. It’s just not worth the hassle.

Instead, focus on redesigning your current website to bring it up to speed with the mobile trend. Make the mobile experience a part of the design from the offset, and not just an afterthought. Use responsive design so the web page can adapt to the visitor’s screen size. Be aware of font sizes and image quality, and test every page multiple times, on different devices.

If you’d like advice on how to ensure your site is both mobile-optimised and search-engine-optimised, please get in touch! We’d be more than happy to help.