mobile search

The rise of mobile: how to make your website more user-friendly on the go

In 2016, for the first time, mobile use of the internet overtook its desktop counterpart, and use of on-the-go devices to access the web has been on the march ever since. By February 2019, 48% of web page views worldwide were being made on the move.

The reality is your website needs to reflect this huge behavioural shift. And if mobile visitors to your website don’t enjoy the best possible experience when they’re on your site, you’re not only turning away a significant amount of potential traffic, you’re actively damaging your rankings with the world’s biggest search engines at the same time.

So your website must be mobile-friendly. Here’s how you can do that:

  • Creating responsive pages

This means a visitor sees identical information on any device, but content changes in terms of the way it’s displayed depending on the screen being used. This is Google’s preferred mobile format, so it’s good SEO, too.

  • Make it easier for visitors to find what they need

Especially if they’re out and about, your website users will want their information quickly and easily. Understand what someone is most likely to be using your mobile website for, and be sure people can find what they need swiftly, with simple navigation.

  • Don’t get Flash

Not only is Flash not great for SEO, it slows loading time, and may not work at all on mobiles. Scrap this animation technology in favour of a strong web design that doesn’t need it.

  • Bin Autocorrect for forms

If you use forms to collect personal details on your website, turn off the Autocorrect function for each field. Otherwise, the process of filling out the form becomes longer and more complicated.

  • Go large when it comes to button and font sizes

Think about it. Reading text or selecting a button on a smaller screen is much harder with smaller sizes.

  • Include the viewport meta tag

This tells browsers to fit your page width to suit the screen type of your visitor, and it’s not hard to add it to your HTML.

  • Compress images and CSS

Compress anything using a lot of space, such as high-res pictures, which otherwise slows down loading time.

  • Flexibility to switch to desktop mode

This may sound odd, but some people may want to see your website’s desktop version on the move, particularly if, rather than a responsive site, you’ve gone for a mobile version of your website. Let people interact with your brand in the way that suits them best.

Finally, test your website yourself on your phone occasionally to see how it looks, and get colleagues to do the same. Google also has its own mobile testing facility. 

Still want to know more about making your site mobile-friendly? Give us at Front Page a call today for an informal chat.