More than half of your visitors come on a telephone. Google is now also looking at that version first.
A responsive website automatically adjusts its layout to the screen size, so that the same page is usable on phone, tablet and desktop. There is one website and one address; only the display shifts. That has been the standard for years, and Google primarily judges sites on their mobile version.
IN COMMON LANGUAGE
Adjusting is more than reducing
Responsive doesn't mean everything gets smaller. Columns that were next to each other are placed under each other, an extensive menu becomes a button, and buttons become larger: a finger is more inaccurate than a mouse.
What usually goes wrong is not the layout but the weight. A page that feels fast in the office may be slow on a mediocre mobile connection. Imagery is almost always the culprit.
That's why we build without page builders: they add layers of code that you don't notice on a large screen but you do on a phone.
WHY IT MATTERS
Which you can test for yourself
Grab your phone, turn off WiFi and open your own site. That's the fairest test there is, and most entrepreneurs never take it.
Pay particular attention to what happens in the first seconds and whether you can operate everything without zooming in.
- Readable without zooming in — the most common complaint.
- Buttons big enough — a finger is not a mouse pointer.
- No horizontal scrolling — a clear sign that something is not scaling.
- Fast on mobile internet — test outside your own WiFi.
- Forms fillable — the right keyboard for the right field.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
More about a responsive website
Do I need a separate mobile site?
No. A separate mobile site at its own address was common ten years ago and now mainly results in duplicate maintenance and confusion for search engines. One responsive site is the standard.
How do I know if my site is mobile friendly?
Open it on your own phone with WiFi turned off. If you have to zoom in, you accidentally scroll sideways, or it takes a long time for something to appear, then you have your answer without one measuring instrument.
Does this count for Google?
Yes. Google rates sites based on the mobile version. What is slow or unusable there affects your positions: even for visitors on a desktop.
CONTINUE READING
Of course, continue reading about this subject.
Good on every screen?
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