Do you have a website? If so, are your visitors coming from mobile devices? Do they experience any issues when viewing your site on their phone or tablet device?

A mobile-friendly website is a must for any business. If you have one, great! But if not, it’s time to get on board with this trend before your competitors do. A recent Google study revealed that over half of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, so it is essential that all businesses are prepared when the inevitable happens.

What does a mobile-friendly website mean?

A mobile-friendly website is a site that is adapted to fit the user’s mobile device, such as a smartphone, iPad, or tablet. They are easy to navigate and do not require the users to zoom in or change their settings manually. In addition, the text is easy-to-read with easy search functionality. 

How is a mobile website different from a responsive website?

People often confuse responsive websites with mobile sites. They think they are the same. They are often used interchangeably, and both matter a great deal when it comes to rankings and user experience, but they aren’t entirely the same thing. What makes them different is how information is presented.

A mobile website is designed exclusively for mobile devices. It uses code intended to reduce a desktop-sized webpage to fit on the small screen of a smartphone, tablet, or iPad.

Meanwhile, responsive websites are designed to display content in a way that’s aesthetically appealing and easy to read across all devices. Despite being a bit more complicated than mobile-friendly sites, this enhances the customer experience while easily navigating the entire area. Simply put, a responsive website is mobile-friendly, but not every mobile-friendly website is responsive.

Reasons why websites need to be mobile-friendly

Having a mobile-friendly website isn’t just a good idea, but it’s essential as most people utilize mobile devices than laptops or desktops. According to statistics, over 52% of total online traffic comes from mobile devices.

A mobile-friendly website is not just a convenience for a small percentage of users anymore. People prefer using mobile technology nowadays, so it is a necessity. There is, however, more to it than just accessibility. Having a mobile-friendly website can be beneficial for your business for several reasons.

1. Many of your customers use mobile devices. Although many people use laptops or desktops for work or personal needs, most of them use mobile devices.

Mobile users have grown so accustomed to instant access to information that they expect to find anything they would find on their desktop computers on their mobile devices. Therefore, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, potential customers will not easily find information about your business.

• A mobile-friendly website generates more page views and has lower bounce rates. A great mobile user experience is crucial. Visitors will be more likely to stay on your website if it displays well on small devices without needing to zoom in, loads quickly, and has intuitive mobile navigation, so they can move from page to page and learn more about you.

Making your website mobile-friendly is one of the best ways to keep visitors longer on your site. If your website is easy to use, visitors are less likely to leave it, which means a mobile-friendly website also reduces your bounce rate.

• Google favors a mobile-friendly website. Google’s algorithm gives preference to mobile-friendly websites. Google recognizes that most people nowadays use mobile devices to access the internet, so it wants to tailor its search results to match its users.

When you optimize your website to be mobile-friendly in content and formatting, your SEO content will be more effective. You will rank higher in search results when potential customers use your keywords and phrases to search.

• Mobile-friendly content is more shareable. Sharing is an essential method of spreading information. People want to share what they see and like with others, whether it’s a text messaging website or links on social media. However, sharing from desktop to mobile doesn’t work very well if your site is not mobile-friendly. While your potential customer may want to share information with others, the data will not be in a format that your customer will appreciate, and they may not take the time to save the link to read it on their desktop.
• To be competitive. Most of your competitors, especially those with successful internet marketing programs, already have a mobile-friendly version of their site. So, keep up or get left behind.

Bottom line is, if your website is not yet optimized for mobile devices, now is the time to do it. Your competitors may be one step ahead of you in this area already! Mobile-first indexing will continue to grow, and Google’s algorithm update will make it even more important that your site can seamlessly switch between desktop and mobile. To avoid being left behind on the competitive digital marketing landscape, hire an SEO specialist who understands all facets of modern web design and optimization.