What device are you reading this article with, a desktop/laptop or a smartphone? According to Benchmarking Report on Google analytics, there has been a preponderance of web visits via mobile phones compared to other devices.
In 2020, for example, 68.1% of the visits were attributed to mobile devices, while desktops and tablets shared the remaining percentage.
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This is a huge shift from the trend of a few years ago, lending credence to conversations surrounding the need to optimize websites to accommodate mobile users. And if you’re wondering how to go about that, consider these few tried and trusted practices:
Mobile-friendly web configuration
Having a website that encourages mobile users is key to earning high conversions. Although this can be achieved in the three ways described below, the first is the most cost-effective. It is also the easiest to achieve and maintain.
Responsive web design
Using a CSS3 media query that allows the same content to be adapted to screens of various dimensions. For example, the content of an HTML element can be set to display horizontally on a desktop screen and display vertically on a screen with a smaller dimension.
Dynamic serving
Coding different sets of primary content and markup on the same URL, such that what is displayed to a mobile phone user when they click on the link is different from what is displayed to a desktop user.
Mobile URLs
This entails creating a subdomain for your mobile URL so that when users click on a desktop-optimized link, they are redirected to the mobile website.
Page speed acceleration
For every website offering a product, many similar web listings on the SERP offer similar products. Having a page that takes even as long as 4 seconds to load can spell a high bounce rate and cause you to lose your leads to competitors.
With Google’s PageSpeed Insights, you can analyze the performance of your page in this regard and enlist the support of experts at our SEO company if you find it lagging.
User-centric design
Creating a positive user experience for users of mobile devices involves putting a high priority on factors including but not limited to thumb-friendly pages, appropriate font sizes (not too large as to take up more screen length and cause endless scrolling, or too small as to be unreadable), as well as navigation buttons and CTAs that are intuitive and easy to find.
Careful use of pop-ups
Pop-ups continually interrupting a user’s web activity will most likely make them exit the website in frustration. You have probably also experienced this before. Unless when necessary, resist the urge to use them. And if you must, ensure that they do not obstruct the main content on the page and are easy to dismiss.
Want to find confirm if your website is mobile-friendly? You can run a test on the platform created by Google. You will be required to type your URL in the search bar and click the “Test URL” button.
