We are now so attached to their smartphones that sometimes; we seem inseparable. We are checking the news on it, updating our social media, having chats with loved ones, and even, finishing projects on it. From brainstorming sessions to virtual gaming, from finding love to ordering food, all we are doing is tapping the black mirror. Business pundits are well-aware of this. That is why they are putting their money on websites that have been designed also to look and feel good on the Mobile screen.
An average grown-up male spends around 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phone. But the higher side, that is the top 20% spends around 4 and a half hours per day on their phone. This is an indicator of the fact that people are not just using their phones to check their social status or gossiping about others. They are spending quality time doing various types of research online. Now smartphones have both pros and cons. It is mobile after all. That means you can surf the net at any time. This is a huge advantage but the screen size is small, hence readability could be an issue.
People tend to scroll more while surfing on their phones. With a readability issue, the chance for prospective buyers getting distracted by an ill-designed page is higher. This would make him skip the page. In fact, recent developments in Google’s ranking policies are showing that it includes a preference-based model where Google would check the readability of a page in mobile and accordingly, index it. This is known as mobile-first indexing.

So, what should be the plan?

The way out is to increase the mobile readiness of your website. This means your webpage has to follow certain rules in order to become mobile-friendly. If you have an older site, the chances are high of finding it at the bottom of the search engine. This is because most of the older versions were not designed with the intent to make them mobile-friendly. You can always seek help from people with experience in professional website development.
If you are not sure about how good your website is going to perform in Google’s mobile-first indexing, you can seek help from Google’s mobile-friendly tools. If there is a quality issue, it would detect it and let you know so that you can plan the design accordingly.

What are the major reasons driving the mobile-friendly designs?

When you start comparing mobile-friendly websites with websites designed for desktops, the obvious difference that comes to your mind is the size. Yes, this is a big factor as it can change the viewing pattern of a user. But two other reasons can significantly impact the behavioral changes. For instance, when you are checking a page on your mobile, you pay less attention. So, if you really want to get the attention of your user in that brief span of time, you have to work hard on the design. Also, people checking their mobile for information are much more specific in their approach. They are looking for specific data and they don’t want to linger around it for long.

What can work against you?

There are again three basic things that you have to keep in your mind while designing a page. Search engines often detect problems like unreadable texts as the fonts are not chosen correctly, contents that are malfunctioning, and tap-targets lacking space. These could go against your website. When you are planning professional website development, then keeping these in mind would be handy.

What Google Has to Say?

As per the discoveries made by Google by going through a huge amount of data, responsive web design is the perfect solution. The core of this type of design has a single HTML code and a single URL for all the platforms. This is an effective way to let the website adjust itself as per the viewing medium. Similarities in design will be there between a desktop page and a mobile page. Only the viewing pattern will change. It would also help in uniform brand identity.
In the case of professional website development, the page designer would use a trick to make it work for both the mediums. The designer would use a fluid grid and flexible images that would alter with the screen size.

Test constantly

The idea of launching the perfect mobile-friendly website takes substantial time for fruition. It is difficult to adjust the design not just from the point of efficacy but from the point of aesthetics as well. An ill-formed website is the last thing you would want to have. That is why testing it after each step is necessary. Whether you are starting from scratch or just renovating it, you have to monitor each step. The obvious process would be to check on your mobile.

What are the ways?

If you are planning to use Google Chrome to check, you can right-click anywhere on the page and select ‘Inspect’. Then click on the multi-device icon and the website size would be reduced. After this, you can select from the ‘Responsive” drop-down to understand how the mobile view is going to work.
With WordPress site, you can seek help from page builders like Beaver Builder by selecting a module. There you can choose the mobile view to get an understanding of how the system is going to look like.
WordPress has an alternative as well. In the admin panel, there is a customize option, which can be used for a preview of the mobile setting. This would help substantially in getting hands-on results and developing the website step-by-step.
It is always better to go for a professional website development service. This is needed as you have to keep in mind that Google is constantly updating requirements. Getting yourself acquainted with everything is not a simple task as you have to invest significant time in your business. However, always keep an eye on mobile-first indexing to be sure that you are not missing out on opportunities.