{"id":1963,"date":"2023-11-02T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.ironmarkusa.com\/mobile-friendly-website\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T14:30:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T18:30:50","slug":"mobile-friendly-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ironmarkusa.com\/mobile-friendly-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Your Website Mobile-Friendly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[Updated for 2023]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you traveled back in time, to a year before 2015, you would see that the mobile browsing experience was far from enjoyable. Most websites were designed for desktop browsing, so they didn\u2019t display properly on mobile devices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why you had to use your fingers to make sections of the website bigger or smaller. Even doing that, it was hard to browse the web on a smartphone. According to Oberlo Statistics<\/a>, it wasn\u2019t until the last ten years that we saw a significant jump in global web traffic coming from mobile devices. They note that in August 2023, \u201c55.5% of all web traffic came through mobile phones, with the average for 2023 so far coming in at 56.9%.\u201d In comparison, only 10.88% of web traffic came from mobile in 2012! Thankfully, those days are gone, and mobile-friendly websites are part of the standard browsing experience. It goes beyond keeping up with standards, though. If you don\u2019t have a responsive website, you\u2019re missing out on your share of traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at why mobile responsiveness is so important, and learn how to check your site and make changes as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MOBILEGEDDON \u2013 THE UPDATE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Google has long been the digital marketing gatekeeper. Companies and marketers know they have to comply with Google\u2019s strict standards, or no one will see their sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google\u2019s main goal is to provide a good experience for users, and it constantly updates its algorithm to accomplish that. That\u2019s why Google instituted a major change to its mobile ranking algorithm in 2015. Coined \u201cMobilegeddon,\u201d the update changed website development and mobile browsing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the update, Google now prioritizes mobile-friendly websites. Sites formatted for desktop browsing are buried in the search results when people search on mobile devices. Early on, that might not have seemed like a big deal. However, mobile browsing is becoming more and more common. In fact, mobile browsing has made up around half of the global web traffic since 2017. That means if you don\u2019t have a mobile-friendly site, you could end up missing out on half of your potential traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your head might be spinning a bit with this information. First, let\u2019s take a closer look at what mobile responsiveness means and how you can make sure your site is ready. Then let’s find out what you can do to make changes if your site isn\u2019t mobile-friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT DOES RESPONSIVE MEAN?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Responsive website design allows you to create a single site for desktop and mobile users. If you have a responsive website, a system will determine the type of device each visitor uses. Then, the system will reformat the website to display on the device. This ensures that the site is easy to view and use, with clickable items enlarged and easy navigation options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobile responsiveness provides a seamless user experience between desktop and mobile versions of the site. Plus, having a responsive website will help you rank in search results. That\u2019s why mobile-friendliness is a major factor in search engine optimization (SEO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED: EMERGING TRENDS IN WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR SITE IS RESPONSIVE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You know that mobile responsiveness is important, but how do you make sure your site is mobile-friendly? Fortunately, there are tons of free tools you can use to ensure that you have a mobile-friendly website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google\u2019s Mobile-Friendly Test <\/a>is one of the most accessible (and easiest to use) tools out there. You just need to paste your URL into the toolbar, and it will analyze your site. Then, you\u2019ll find out if the site is mobile-friendly. If it isn\u2019t mobile-friendly, the tool will tell you why. You might discover that the text is too small, the links are too close, the content is wider than your screen, or you haven\u2019t set the mobile viewport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsinator is another useful tool. Simply enter the URL into the search box, and then it will display your site on different devices. You can scroll down the page to see how it looks on each device and easily identify any needed changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW TO IMPROVE RESPONSIVENESS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, follow Google\u2019s recommendations for improving mobile responsiveness. Once you take care of those items, your site should move up in the rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t stop there, though. If you want to improve mobile responsiveness, you also need to optimize your page loading times. Page load times are part of the mobile experience, so you can\u2019t have a fully optimized website until you take care of any issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can use Google\u2019s PageSpeed Insights<\/a> for this. If your load times leave something to be desired, you can take several steps to fix the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, you need to focus on optimizing images. If your images aren\u2019t optimized for mobile, it will take your site way too long to load. Tools such as Adaptive Images detect screen sizes and resize images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, you need to consider the website hosting plan you use. If you use a shared hosting plan, your site shares bandwidth with other sites. That can lead to slow load times. Switching to a dedicated server can speed up load times considerably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also increase your page load speed by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n