Not so long ago, mobile was the second priority. You built your site for desktop and made sure it was 'more or less okay' on mobile. Those days are over.
Since 2019, Google has used 'mobile-first indexing': it looks at your site primarily through the mobile version. If your site is poor on mobile, Google thinks your whole site is poor, no matter how good the desktop version looks.
Why does this matter so much?
- 60-80% of visitors arrive on mobile for most small business sites
- Google's ranking is based on the mobile version
- Slow or unusable mobile sites lose visitors within 3 seconds
- Mobile conversion is usually 2-3x lower than desktop if the site does not work well
What makes a site 'mobile-friendly'?
- A viewport setting in the code: tells the browser how the page should scale on mobile
- Responsive design: the layout adapts to the screen size, instead of forcing horizontal scrolling
- Buttons are big enough to tap: at least 44x44 pixels
- Text is readable without zooming: at least 16px for body text
- Fast loading times on 4G: mobile connections are still slower than Wi-Fi
How do you test your site?
Open your site on your own phone and click through all the important pages. Can you read everything easily? Are the buttons easy to tap? Can you fill in a contact form without frustration? If you have doubts yourself, so does Google.
Extra check: use Google's free Mobile-Friendly Test. Paste in your URL and you get an instant verdict plus concrete tips.