The true test of a website in 2019 is whether it works on the toilet.
More people now access sites through mobile devices than they do through desktop — with desktop users taking up less than half the total share. That represents a sea change in the rankings industry, because sites that once occupied the top spots may not have their mobile game down. If you want your site to generate conversions, then you need mobile know-how to succeed.
Here are 8 important mobile design tips that can boost your Google rankings.
1. No One Likes a Slowpoke
Nobody likes to waste time on a slow website, but mobile browsers are some of the least patient out there. Mobile users are often looking for quick answers, not an awkward wait.
Sites that aren’t optimized for mobile face a double-whammy of slowness. Mobile devices often don’t have the processing power of a desktop machine, which magnifies the impact of a slow-loading website. If your site isn’t well optimized, your mobile users will be the first to know.
And with so many other sites in the palm of their hand, those users won’t bother to wait. They’ll find a website that can get the content to them quicker, instead.
2. Lookin’ Good
One of the common mobile web design flaws may be obvious even on a cursory check of your page.
If your menus are shifting out of alignment on mobile, or they overlap, then you have a big problem on your hands. You’ll have made navigating your site impossible, ensuring your visitors will never get where they’re trying to go.
Despite being simple, this is a common problem. Site owners often take it for granted that their site works on mobile. Ensure you check for yourself whether your site works — never assume.
3. Access All Areas
When you’re delivering site on a mobile device, you have a few more accessibility issues to consider.
For instance, the smaller screen makes legibility problems worse for those with weak eyesight or dyslexia. If your site is harder to use, these visitors will go elsewhere to a site that can accommodate them.
Even for people without disabilities, mobile sites can pose challenges. Small buttons can make the site hard to navigate. That not only excludes visitors with dexterity issues but even those with large fingers.
To avoid these issues, keep accessibility in mind. Make sure that text content reads well on a small screen. Use large, simple fonts, and be sure to make buttons easy to access.
4. Intruder Alert
The temptation to include a million pop-ups encouraging visitors to sign up to your mailing list etc. may be high, but consider the impact on mobile users.
Pop-ups are often hard to navigate past or dismiss on mobile devices. In worst-case scenarios, they can even crash pages, blocking access to your site.
Keep your pop-ups to the bare essentials or disabled on the mobile version of the site if you want to keep your mobile visitors.
5. The SEO Spring Clean
You don’t have to redesign your whole site for some SEO easy wins.
Some of the fundamentals of SEO are also its simplest elements. Your titles, tags, and SEO keywords are as important to your mobile rankings as they are to desktop.
Optimize your titles, subheadings, and meta descriptions for mobile by keeping them within the recommended length. That’ll ensure there’s nothing truncated for the mobile experience.
6. Call to Adventure
When users come to your site, they’re coming with a purpose. And if you’re a business, then that purpose is usually to buy your product or service.
Don’t forget that core principle behind your site. On mobile as well as desktop, it needs to be easy to engage with your call to action. Even if you’re obscuring your call to action with helpful content, you aren’t doing yourself a favor in the long run.
Put your CTA somewhere where your site’s customers can’t miss it. That not only gets you more conversions but also boosts your site’s profile as a helpful destination.
7. No Labyrinth, No Bull
Nested menus may not be the best design on desktop, but they’re not the end of the world. In the mobile arena, the story can be quite different.
Hard-to-navigate menus can make your site inaccessible on mobile. Unlike on desktop, it’s often impossible for mobile users to even see the content of menus before they navigate to them. Without mouse-over abilities, navigating complex menus becomes a chore.
That won’t just obscure the content of your website. It might even make your product or service hard to access. If customers can’t get what they’re looking for when visiting your site, then they’ll soon find somewhere else.
8. See Your Way Clear
An uncluttered design is one of the better ways of delivering mobile content, but it does come with an exception: visual content.
That’s because visual content can provide a lot of information in a small space, and do it in a more legible way than text can offer.
Using visual content formatted for mobile is a fantastic way to boost your mobile web design at the same time as making your site more usable to visitors. Customers can access the same level of information without scrolling and eye-strain, making your site the most attractive place to be.
You’ll need razor-sharp web design to make the most of your visual content. You need to establish the right balance between resolution and site speed, which takes some technical know-how. If you’re looking for web design in Horsham, you can find it here.
Mobile Design Tips to Boost Your Google Rankings
These mobile design tips can transform your site’s SEO, and with it, your place in the Google Rankings. That could be just what you need to take your business to the next level.
Looking for more support with your SEO? Find an SEO company that can give you a boost.
