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Mobile Friendly Website?

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Is your website mobile-friendly.  Google thinks it should be!

Google announced that, from 21 April, 2015, it increased the impact of “mobile-friendliness” as a ranking signal in its mobile search results. As a result, websites that are not deemed to be “mobile-friendly” are likely to experience a drop in visibility from searches performed on mobile devices.

Why is it important for my website to be Mobile-Friendly?

It is now estimated that more Google searches are performed on mobile devices than on desktop devices. Google wants mobile users to receive a good user-experience by providing them with search results that feature websites that are easy to use on mobile devices.  Mobile-friendly

websites make it easier for visitors to complete their objectives e.g. buying a product,reading a post, etc.

What makes a Mobile-Friendly Website?

Google views a webpage as mobile-friendly if it meets the following criteria:

  • Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
  • Uses text that is readable without zoomingmobile-friendly-icon-300x241
  • Sizes content to the device screen size so that users do not have to scroll horizontally or zoom in
  • Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily selected

Google also recommends that webmasters:

  • Ensure that their website pages load quickly on mobile devices
  • Avoid using disruptive pop-ups
  • Do not block essential resources such as CSS, JavaScript and images

How Can I Check if my website is Mobile-Friendly?

You can undertake a quick test to see if a webpage has been deemed mobile-friendly by using Google’s mobile-friendly testing tool.   Go to this page https://www.google.co.uk/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/, enter you website address and , you can then view the mobile usability report to identify if you website is mobile friendly or if there anyissues across your entire site.  When you go to the mobile-friendly testing tool page you then enter a web page URL and then click on Analyze – see Figure 1 below.

Analyser

Figure 1 – Test Tool

If your website passes the mobile-friendly test you should see a similar message as displayed in Figure 2 below.

google mobile friendly

Figure 2 – Success!

If your website fails the mobile-friendly test you have some work to do to ensure your website does not lose visibility in Google’s mobile search results.  The mobile-friendly testing tool informs you where your website falls short of meeting its criteria and makes suggestions as to how you can make the page mobile-friendly.  See Figure 3 below.

NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY

Figure 3 – Not Mobile Friendly!

What if my website is not Mobile-Friendly?

If your website fails the mobile-friendly test, you need to think about how we can help you and redesign your website for you to meet the Google mobile-friendly analyzer criteria.