4 reasons why your website needs to be mobile-friendly

Given the technological upsurge over the past decade, smartphones have become an irreplaceable item that every one of us now carries everywhere they go due to the simple fact that they just make life easier. If you happen to be lost you can simply start your device’s location application and easily find your way around in any unknown place. In other cases, you use them to order different items on the go with some examples being clothing, technology and even food. 

Because of this, it is important that the websites, which users utilize, need to be easily accessible and operable. But what are the core reasons that require your website to be mobile-friendly? Here are 4 of them.

Increase in global mobile traffic

Due to the vast number of circumstances in which mobile devices can be utilized, it does not come as a surprise that a large majority of the current global internet traffic primarily comes in the form of mobile search queries - around a whopping 70%. Because of this astounding number, it is evident that websites in this digital age need to be not only optimized but also mobile-friendly in order to accommodate users with different devices, each with their own screen resolution, operating system and requirements. 

Having your website be usable on a mobile means that you could potentially see an increase in traffic, meaning a wider user reach and a better brand exposure, which can result in a bigger following and social presence.

Search Engines and SERPs

Search engines evolve in conjunction with user demands and their requirements. This in itself is quite evident from the core algorithmic changes that larger search engines have implemented over the past decade to facilitate the increase in mobile search traffic.

Google for example has begun to employ mobile-first indexing where any content you upload to your website has to initially undergo mobile version tests. Failing these tests can potentially leave you out of the search engine results pages, often abbreviated as SERPs for short.

This will consequently result in less overall traffic, which will inevitably lead to less user engagement and reduced income and revenue in the case of online e-commerce websites. Not only that, but if you are just starting out, you could even be incapable of gaining any public following and your brand could very well fail to see any exposure, which will ultimately stump your growth process.

Focus on user experience

As we mentioned previously, people utilize mobile devices in every aspect of their daily lives in order to perform any tasks on the spot. Users constantly seek the fastest way to do everything and therefore require website owners and webmasters to optimize their websites in order for them to not only be quick to load and easily navigable, but also extremely mobile-friendly.

This includes having buttons that are large enough to be clicked whilst also having sufficient space around them. Not only that, but it is also important to have a relatively big font size, generally of at least 16 pixels in order for the text to be legible. 

If a user is not satisfied with the overall page or website that they visit, they will immediately click away or go back to the search results page, resulting in an increased bounce rate. This, in turn, can consequently negatively impact your website’s position in the search engine standings. 

Additionally, keep in mind that there are some users that have different types of impairments. Ensure that you accommodate them by adjusting your site’s colour scheme and providing sufficient contrast between the elements. Try to mix your primary and secondary colours so that there is a significant visual difference when converted into grayscale. This will aid users who are colourblind.

Ultimately, your focus should always be on providing exceptional user experience through an intuitive and easy to navigate user interface. Remember, happy users will result in a better brand image and social media shares along with increased product sales.

Being better than the competition

Regardless of the niche or general region that you specialize in, you will always have competitors striving to be better than you. Because of this, making just a subtle mistake can result in your rivals moving in front. However, making just slight website improvements can also help you surpass them. 

Due to this, it is essential to remember that having a well-optimized and mobile-friendly website can help you bring in more exposure and potential clients. Remember that users want to perform a given task quickly, meaning that something as simple as reducing your website’s initial loading time while simultaneously increasing element rendering speed can be enough to persuade people to use you rather than your competitors’.

Overall, making sure that you prioritize creating a mobile-friendly website is of utmost importance as failure to do so might lead to less conversions, traffic and in the case of e-commerce websites - sales. Remember to always aim for facilitating phenomenal user experience and ensure that you perform routine tests using search engine developed software like Google’s PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse along with any additional third-party applications in order to keep your website’s mobile-friendliness in check.