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.
So what does it exactly mean for my website?
Your ranking will be downgraded on mobile search if your website is not mobile friendly.
To be considered mobile friendly, Google has said your website should:
- Arrange its content seamlessly to fit the user’s device
- Use text that is readable without zooming
- Avoid software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
- Place links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
Here are Pixel Tie’s 3 steps to get your website ready and maintain your ranking
STEP 1: Test your website
- Do the Google Mobile-Friendly Test
- Use Google’s Mobile Usability Reports to check common usability issues with your mobile site
- See Google’s Mobile Guidelines so that you can fix your usability issues and improve your mobile experience for your users
STEP 2: Choose between a Mobile website and Responsive website
Do you want to build a dedicated mobile site or a responsive website?
Which ever you choose will depend on your goals and constraints as a company but either way it is time to move into mobile.
STEP 3: Optimize your website
2 Key points to keep in mind
- Usability over aesthetic
Because screen size is limited, you need to prioritize the most vital elements and make them prominent and easy to find. - Performance as priority
As global connectivity is unequal, load time should be short. When users are on the go, laggy websites will be abandoned.
3 actionable insights
- Simplify your navigation
Keep main navigation items at a minimum. Try a hamburger menu. Remember, your users should be able to navigate your site just as simply on a smartphone or tablet, as they can on their desktop.
- Reduce load-time
Remove redundant HTML, CSS and javascript lines. Try to keep your image resolutions low to reduce the number of times you ping the server to retrieve them.
- Design for fingers
Give your clickable elements sufficient breathing room. Apple’s iPhone Human Interface Guidelines recommends a target size of 44 pixels wide by 44 pixels tall.
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You can also find this presentation on Slideshare.
