It’s no surprise that people are on their phones now more than ever — so if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re likely missing out on most of your target audience. But outside of that, there are many compelling reasons to update your website if it’s not mobile-friendly. Let’s review the requirements for what a conventional mobile-friendly website should include and explore why having a mobile site is crucial for user experience and search engine optimization.
Requirements for a Mobile-Friendly Website
A mobile-friendly website functions well and looks good on any mobile device, including tablets. Most people accessing your site will consider leaving if they can’t quickly find what they are looking for. There are a few basic requirements:
- The text should be easy to read
- It should be easy to navigate — meaning that buttons and links are large enough to be tapped with a finger
- It looks great; therefore, the user experience is enjoyable
Why is a mobile-friendly website experience important?
1. Your Patients Prefer Booking Appointments Online
Having an online appointment scheduling system is so important. According to a study commissioned by Healthgrades, 62% of patients prefer online booking. Even if your competitors do not have the option to book online, you can improve your operational efficiency by being ahead of the competition, as 60% of doctors’ appointments are typically scheduled outside of office hours.
2. Google Emphasizes Mobile-First Indexing
Google enabled mobile-first indexing by default for all new websites in July of 2019, which means that Google will prioritize the mobile content over the desktop version for any websites built. Essentially, Google is saying that your mobile site is of primary importance.
3. Better User Experience and Increased SALES
Have you ever received a link from a friend via text message, and when you try to open the link on your phone, you have to wait 10 seconds for an unorganized, poorly designed, and incoherent mess of a website? We have, and we know this will hurt ANY chance you have of converting that user into a paying customer. If a person cannot quickly understand the content on your website from their phones, they will leave and find someone else to take care of them. Some reports share that over 70% of mobile users who have encountered problems when browsing a website have had experience issues that led them to go elsewhere. Don’t let that be you!
4. Improved Mobile SEO
We love to say that Google is king around here at Allegrow because we are all at its mercy when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). If Google says it’s important, it’s important. And according to Google, you need a responsive website — which will increase the chances of your website ranking better in mobile search results.
Is your website mobile-friendly?
If you’re not sure whether your website is mobile-friendly, you can use the following tests to evaluate where your website stands. We use these free Google tools because this is typically how Google will establish your ranking:
- We use Pagespeed insights, which focuses on reporting the overall performance of a page on both mobile and desktop. This tool also provides some suggestions on how your pages can be improved.
- Test My Site, which primarily evaluates your site speed on mobile devices, but you can also see how your website does on desktop.
- We use Mobile-Friendly Test, which will give you the ultimate yes or no on whether your site is mobile-friendly.