To help web developers and webmasters make their pages mobile-friendly here I am sharing some recommendations by Google on mobile usability.
Poor usability of the webpage can diminish the benefits of a fast page load. We know the average mobile page takes more than 7 seconds to load, and by using the PageSpeed Insights tool and following its speed recommendations, you can make your page load much faster. But suppose your fast mobile site loads in just 2 seconds instead of 7 seconds.
If mobile users still have to spend another 5 seconds once the page loads to pinch-zoom and scroll the screen before they can start reading the text and interacting with the page, then that site isn’t really fast to use after all.
Read more: Google mobile ads get more clicks, less money
Page Speed Insights’ new User Experience rules can help you find and fix these usability issues.
These new recommendations currently cover the following areas:
- Configure the viewport: Without a meta-viewport tag, modern mobile browsers will assume your page is not mobile-friendly and will fall back to a desktop viewport and possibly apply font-boosting, interfering with your intended page layout. Configuring the viewport to width=device-width should be your first step in mobilizing your site.
- Size content to the viewport: Users expect mobile sites to scroll vertically, not horizontally. Once you’ve configured your viewport, make sure your page content fits the width of that viewport, keeping in mind that not all mobile devices are the same width.
- Use legible font sizes: If users have to zoom in just to be able to read your article text on their smartphone screen, then your site isn’t mobile-friendly. PageSpeed Insights checks that your site’s text is large enough for most users to read comfortably.
- Size tap targets appropriately: Nothing’s more frustrating than trying to tap a button or link on a phone or tablet touchscreen, and accidentally hitting the wrong one because your finger pad is much bigger than a desktop mouse cursor. Make sure that your mobile site’s touchscreen tap targets are large enough to press easily.
- Avoid plugins: Most smartphones don’t support Flash or other browser plugins, so make sure your mobile site doesn’t rely on plugins.
These rules are described in more detail in our help pages. When you’re ready, you can test your pages and the improvements you make using the PageSpeed Insights tool. We’ve also updated PageSpeed Insights to use a mobile-friendly design, and we’ve translated our documents into additional languages.
Conclusion: Mobile friendly website is great to help in search engine optimization. And if your website is mobile-friendly then it’s a boon. So just check out how to make your website mobile-friendly with the help of page speed insight.
