The Importance of Optimizing Your Website for Mobile

It is estimated that by the end of 2016, more than 31 million users in the United States will access the Internet exclusively through a mobile device. While that number may not seem substantial, to put it in perspective, if your website is not optimized for mobile viewing, you could be missing out on a quarter of your potential market. The experts at Utah SEO Pros understand that a website that cannot be viewed on a mobile device loses not only business, but also credibility.

How Relevant is Mobile Search?

With the influx of smartphone options, and increasing popularity of voice search, mobile Internet browsing is becoming the new normal. Smartphone users spend an average of almost 3 hours a day on their device, and 80% of them are using it to browse the Internet. The increase in smartphone searches should come as no surprise, when you consider how easily accessible information has become.

There are more searches being done on mobile devices than computers or tables 15 out of 24 hours of any given day. This is one of the many reasons Google announced plans to divide their search index between mobile and desktop last week; the mobile version of their site will be updated more frequently than the desktop version. This is just the latest step of their mobile-friendly algorithm update implemented in April of 2015, which was affectionately deemed “Mobilegeddon.”

According to a report published in September, an average of 80% of people are using a smartphone to access the Internet every day, as opposed to the 67% of people using a desktop computer. This same study showed that more than half of the population uses more than one device, and when it comes to the other half, 27% of people use only a smartphone, while 14% only a desktop.

Tips to Make Your Website More Mobile-Friendly

One of the first things you should do is enter your website into Mobile-Friendly Test, a free tool developed by Google that will let you know if your page is viewable and functional on mobile devices. For a more thorough analysis, try PageSpeed Insights, which will test both mobile and desktop versions of your website, and offer suggestions based on the findings.

Other suggestions to help make your website more mobile-friendly include:

• Make the most common things users are searching for easily accessible, usually at the top of the page, which is commonly referred to as “above the fold.”
• Keep all menu items to a minimum; simplify terms and make them easy to navigate. You should also make sure navigation buttons are a size that allows users to tap them easily.
• Always have a link leading back to the home page.
• Provide a search option, and make it easy to find. In that same vein, make sure search results are relevant to search terms.
• Using a responsive web design can help ensure that no matter how users are viewing your website, it looks right.

Website Optimization & Design from Utah SEO Pros

Making your website as user-friendly as possible should be a top priority for any company. Users have become accustomed to having answers at their fingertips, and they will turn to the first device they can to find them. Our professionals have the skills and understanding to help your website provide those answers, no matter what type of device it’s being viewed on. Call us at 801-413-7734, or contact us here for a free consultation and SEO analysis.