Google Searches, Smartphones, and Mobile Friendly Websites

A mobile-friendly (aka mobile responsive) website is one that works just as well on a mobile phone as on a desktop or laptop. For the past several years, web designers have been making their websites mobile responsive using a combination of technical techniques and frameworks.

If your website wasn’t developed within the past year or two, then it’s likely that it won’t render properly on a mobile phone. Instead, it will render “zoomed out,” meaning that all of the text and images are very small. Visitors to your website will need to zoom in to read by pinching their fingers and then pan left to right to see everything they need to see.

Frankly, that’s a pain. But so what? If your product is great then visitors won’t care, right?

Wrong! With so many competitors online, visitors don’t need to bother with your website; instead, they will simply swipe to the next one.

Do People Search With Phones?

You bet! Just think about your own smartphone use. Even when people are home, if they’re not right in front of their computer, many people whip out their phones or even just ask Siri. Whether by browser or by voice search, smartphones are often the fastest, most convenient options for find answers to questions.

So if you own a smartphone, and you’re likely to these days, you will turn to your smartphone to conduct 75% of your searches. How is a search defined? It’s basically any instance where a person is looking for a product or service like yours online. If your website is not mobile-friendly, you may end up in the search results (thanks to good search engine optimization, or SEO), but even if they click through to your site, visitors won’t stay long since it will be difficult to read and use.

Takeaways

Even if your website has excellent SEO that lands you on the first search results page, it may not help you if your visitors immediately bounce because the site is not mobile-friendly. Once people find you online, make sure they stay with you on your site after they click through from their mobile devices. 3 out of 4 smartphone owners agree – mobile responsive websites are the way to go!

To take the next step in your research, check out 5 of our favorite SEO tips for high Google rankings!