Google's mobile test. Does your website FAIL?

Written by: Rusty PilePresident and Director of Marketing

The mobile version of Google Search now indicates if a site is “mobile-friendly” on its search results pages. It’s a nice feature because it helps you avoid those annoying non-mobile-friendly sites when you’re searching on your phone or tablet. I believe I speak for all of us over 40 when I say we’re tired of having to hold the phone at arm’s length to read a site that isn’t mobile-friendly. Now, using Google, we can just avoid these antiquated sites all together. And I’m not just talking consumer websites here. Business people rely on smart phones and tablets every day. It’s commonplace in meetings for clients and employees to pull up a website on his or her phone to check something out. After all, we can’t always be at our desks and business needs to keep moving.

A Typical Website Frustration Story

I recently overheard a woman in a holiday checkout line who was looking at her phone while griping about a website; “how do they expect me to use their d*** website when I need a magnifying glass to see it?” she blurted out to everyone within earshot. The man in line behind her promptly agreed and added his own stories to the conversation. The complaint session lasted well after I had checked out and headed for the door.

You Missed the Boat

The point here is, if your website still isn’t mobile-friendly, then you’ve already missed the boat and are now simply aggravating and alienating much of your client base. Actually, a simple mobile website isn’t the way to go anymore, that’s already outdated. You need a “RESPONSIVE” website. A responsive web design automatically adjusts itself by repositioning elements according to the screen size and dimensions so print and images are always large enough to see regardless of the device being used. It’s really quite cool. You can read more about the important distinctions between responsive and mobile websites in one of Jeff’s previous blog posts.

How to Check Your Website

Want to know if your site is passing Google’s mobile-friendly test? Google just released an easy-to-use tool so you can check for yourself. Go to this site and enter your website address. If the response is something along the lines of “Awesome! This page is mobile-friendly” then you’re in business. Congratulations!

So What if Your Website Failed the Test?

Okay, you ran the test and your non-mobile-friendly site didn’t pass. Or maybe your website is mobile-friendly but it still didn’t pass the test. This can happen for lots of reasons, but instead of boring you with all of them here, give our web design department a call. We are experts at building and fixing responsive websites. We’ll look into it and tell you what it should cost to drag your site into the smart phone age and make you a contender. Avenue 25 is a team of leading Phoenix web designers, internet marketing, branding professionals and graphic designers. We know what we’re doing and we’re here to take your business-to-business or business-to-consumer organization to the next level. Do it right the first time. Give us a call today and set up an appointment.