As of 2020, just over 50% of website traffic came from mobile phones (compared to 16% in 2013) and it’s likely that this number will continue to increase. In addition, 58% of Google searches are from mobile devices.
What does this mean for your website? If it is not optimized for mobile devices, visitors are most likely to abandon it because they can’t read it on a small screen. Let’s get to know more about mobile-friendly websites and how you can make the necessary changes.
Mobile-friendly 101
In simplest terms, a mobile-friendly website is a website that fits perfectly on a handheld device screen like that of your smartphone or tablet, and it doesn’t require you to zoom or adjust the display settings to view it properly. Conversely, non-mobile-friendly websites do not fit the screens of small devices. Navigation and reading the text is very difficult when you view a non-mobile-friendly website on a mobile device.
Mobile-friendly vs Responsive
Confused about the terms mobile-friendly and responsive? Although both adapt to mobile screens, there is a significant difference in their functionality.
When it comes to a mobile-friendly website, you can maintain an independent website designed solely for mobile devices, which could mean maintaining two websites; one for desktop users and the other for mobile users. It is possible to set up a backend for your website Content Management System (CMS) to output into different templates, which is essentially having a database driven site that will feed content to both.
Responsive websites adjust automatically to the size of the display screen. Whether you are viewing the same website on a mobile device or a desktop screen, it will adjust accordingly. This is certainly a more ideal situation.
You can also opt to take advantage of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for your website, which removes a lot of the design and layout to make your pages load faster for mobile.
SERP and mobile-friendly websites
According to many experts and Google, they favor mobile-friendly websites. The Google search engine considers the mobile User eXperience (UX) and device-friendliness of a website when it comes to ranking. That means that Google will show search results higher for websites that are optimized for display on mobile devices.
Reasons for your organization to have a mobile-friendly website
With an increasing number of people are using their mobile devices to browse the internet, it is crucial that your organization’s website is prepared for those visitors, or you risk losing your target audiences.
A website that is poorly optimized for visitors, regardless of the device they are using, can create a negative impression and visitors may "bounce" away quickly.
Conclusion
Maintaining a website that displays properly on mobile devices has become compulsory. If your non-profit organization doesn’t have a mobile-friendly website yet, now is the time to change!
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