Mobile Friendly Web Design is Important

Business website design must begin with a mobile friendly approach.

Google recently announced what could be a major change in how your small business web design will be impacted in search results. It is very important to determine whether or not your website development includes mobile friendly web design.

Here’s what Google had to say on the official Google Webmaster blog:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

Mobile optimization is important to web design and development

In the next couple of years, the majority of local searches will be made on mobile devices. Mobile optimization has been important to major search engines like Google for a long time, but now they seem to be getting quite serious about it.

A Google mobile ad study conducted in 2011 indicated that:

61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site that they had trouble accessing from their phone
40% go to a competitor’s website

This study went on to conclude – “A poor mobile web experience can negatively shape a consumer’s opinion of your brand or your company altogether.”

Introduction of mobile friendly labels in search results

Late last year Google introduced mobile friendly labels that appear as rich snippets in mobile search results for mobile-optimized pages. Is there a direct ranking benefit to these labels? Well, it will certainly be no surprise if Google’s increased focus on mobile-friendly web design leads to improved search placement for those website owners who comply.

How does your website qualify for a mobile friendly label?

It is important to note that each page of your website must meet the eligibility requirements for a mobile friendly label. Google seems to be quite clear in what is expected of a mobile-friendly website:

Minimal use of software that is not supported on mobile devices, like Flash
Text that is large enough to be read without the need to zoom closer
Content on the page adjusts to the size of the screen on which it is viewed
Adequate spacing between links so they can be clicked correctly without an issue

Performing the mobile friendly test

Google developed the Mobile Friendly Test tool that highlights whether specific pages on websites are deemed mobile friendly. With this tool you can identify pages that are mobile-friendly and you are also able to highlight web pages that need further optimization.

As someone who is concerned about making a lasting first impression through your web design, you should consider mobile optimization a ranking factor by major search engines. It is important to ensure that you have a website that serves all internet users equally. So, go ahead and test your site, then get in touch and I will help you make your web real estate more user friendly.

So, Who’s Ken Bradford?

Ken is a highly skilled business website designer from Clarksville TN. He has provided website design services, logo design services and other brand identity design for over 15 years. He is proficient in web design for nonprofits, web design for service industry, and web design for small businesses and individuals.
>>>more about Ken over here.