The trend of smartphones and tablets has been here for ages. In fact, today mobile internet access is moving ahead of desktop access with most Google searches being executed on mobile devices instead of computers. Google is much optimist about this trend, hence altered their search algorithm, to enhance rank of mobile friendly websites in search results while penalizing not-so mobile-friendly sites. During this process, several sites noticed a drop in their rankings while myriad others are rushing in to make mobile friendly sites. Still, there are a few websites that fail to work on Mobile, including new websites.
Search engine optimization is beyond the arena of internet marketers, as website design and its implementation have an influence on search engine results. It’s essential for designers and developers to timely assess their work. The main idea is not to make the website appear attractive, but it must serve user needs and generate revenues for the clients.
Here we have picked out few standards that will help you analyze how mobile-friendly your site is:
Display well on every device: There are Mobile devices in many sizes and forms, such as smart phones with 3” screens to tablets with 7” screens, etc. Now, you must ensure that your website is presented correctly across all devices. There are several tools in offing to ensure the execution, such as:
- DesignModo’s Responsive Test
- Responsive Test by ZooExtension
- Responsive Design Test by StudioPress
Noticing the trend of smart phones and tabs coming in varying sizes today, the use of responsive layout for your site is indeed the best possible option.
Easy to execute for the mobile users: Due to the small screen space on a mobile device, the experience is way different for the user than on a desktop. Filling in the forms using a virtual keyboard can be quite a task, thus it’s necessary to make the user interaction easier on a smart phone. This improves the overall user experience.
Clearly-defined Call to Action: Increasing the user engagement and revenue is the ultimate aim of any website. The same is ensured with clear and useful CTAs well placed on your website. Often there is probability that a CTA meant to be placed at the top-right of your home page shows to screen 3 as viewed on a mobile device. Thus, it’s necessary to meticulously check your CTA’s position, layout and appearance on mobile devices.
Avoid deep multi-level menus: Today mobile website services steer clear of having deep multi-level menus and go for clean and uncluttered navigation. It makes the experience effortless for the users saving them from the pain to open multiple taps on their mobile device and scroll through a long list of options.
Easy return to home page: As the user goes deep into your page hierarchy, it must be easy for him to find his way back to the home page by simply clicking on the site logo. After al,l you don’t want your viewer to be left frustrated while finding his way back to the homepage.
Provide easy search: If your user easily and quickly finds what s/he is looking for and it ensures instant user satisfaction. So implement ‘smart-search’ features like auto correction and auto complete so that the users find needed information and products quickly.
Ensure all your content plays on mobile devices: Often it happens that certain type of content isn’t playable on all mobile devices, such as Flash is not workable on every mobile device. That way it’s advised to go for HTML5 tags in case of audio and video content.
