Recently, Google’s Jerry Dischler wrote in a post on the official AdWords blog that “more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries, including the U.S. and Japan.” With the recent surge in popularity of mobile searching and surfing of the web, businesses now have a decision to make regarding priorities: should they craft their content foremost for larger screens, such as desktops and laptops, or should they now cater to the smaller screens of mobile devices?

The fact that searching via mobile devices has become the most common way to peruse the internet is, in and of itself, the answer: businesses now have to prioritize mobile sites, because they are becoming the best façon for businesses to reach their audience. In order to remember some of the best practices when crafting your content, we have provided an outline that covers some of the more important aspects in creating your mobile site.

  1. Implement responsive design.

    Google recognizes three different configurations as mobile-friendly: responsive design, dynamic serving, and a separate mobile website. It’s that first one, though–responsive design–that Google recommends as the #1 design pattern. Here are some of the benefits of responsive design:

    • A Single URL. The benefit in this is to make your site simple and easily tracked and loaded, for both user and Google.
    • Less Maintenance and Overhead. One website instead of two, less resources needed.
    • Reduces Load Time. This is very important to your audience, as most mobile users expect quick load time on their phones and might exit your site if it does not load quickly enough. Due to single URL you will no longer have to use a redirect for the page.

    The next tip is less important if you plan on using a Responsive Design.

  2. If you aren’t using responsive design, set a mobile viewport.

    When a site does not load correctly on your phone, e.g. when the site is tremendously zoomed in or if the words are too small, then you probably need to make sure the mobile viewport is active. The mobile viewport will allow your website to fit the screen it is loaded on.

  3. Mechanic using a tablet in his garage

  4. Make sure you don’t block the crawling of any page assets, especially if you have a separate mobile site.

    For Google to track and index your site in its search engine you will need to make sure your security is not blocking “any page assets (CSS, Javascript, and images) for using robots.txt or any other methods.” You can see how Google views your site by clicking here.

  5. Make your text, images, and overall design work for mobile.

    With more of the populace mobile searching and surfing the internet the amount of traffic to your mobile website will increase as well. You will need to ensure that your site looks and functions at the highest standard to make the best impression on your audience. Here are few ways to ensure that from Lindsay Kolowich:

    • Enlarge your fonts
    • Make calls-to-action touch-friendly
    • Use high-quality images that have a compressed file size
    • Use alternative text on images
    • Make videos mobile friendly
    • Balance text and imagery.

The description of these items and their benefits can be found here.

To survive in the ever-evolving world of technology, you will need to keep up to date on all the inner machinations of devices. The mobile website surpassing the tablet/desktop websites is just one example of the changes businesses must follow in order to succeed.

 

Source, quotes, and links via Hubspot.