In today’s technology driven society, having a mobile-friendly website is no longer an option – it’s a necessity. Over half of all internet traffic originates from mobile devices. In 2015 Google started using mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor in mobile search results, and in 2017, mobile traffic from phones or small handheld devices accounted for 52.48% of internet traffic while desktop computers accounted for 43.26%.
Clearly, websites that aren’t mobile-friendly are already missing out, but what do these changes mean for those sites?
According to a case study by Blue Corona, websites without mobile-friendly designs lost 50% or more of organic mobile traffic. Since 2015, the use of mobile devices to search and explore the internet has exponentially increased. According to Google, 94% of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones. 77% of mobile searches occur in places that a desktop computer is likely accessible.
A website that is not mobile-friendly can be very frustrating for users who want to explore or read content.
Usually, the user is left zooming in and scrolling over large sections of the page while trying not to accidentally click links in the process – a frustration and inconvenience that most users are not likely to tolerate. Ultimately, any website that is not mobile-friendly is considered archaic by today’s standards.
In the effort to keep up, your business needs a mobile-friendly website.
In this section, we’ll talk about the best way to incorporate that element into your site.
Traditionally, three different techniques have been used to optimize a website for mobile traffic – dynamic serving, separate URLs, and responsive. A dynamic serving technique detects the screen size or device accessing a website and changes the HTML to compensate. The separate URLs technique is similar to dynamic serving in that it detects the screen or device being used, but instead of changing the HTML, it redirects the user to a different URL entirely that is optimized for the device. The responsive technique optimizes the layout and design according to screen size, but the URL and HTML do not change.
Dynamic serving and separate URL were used a lot in the past, but today most websites are built on a responsive framework that conforms to any screen size and device, because of the variety of device options on the market.
There are too many different screen sizes to take into consideration when designing and developing a website to meet the needs of each screen, and a responsive design will look good on any device regardless of the screen size.
| Configuration | Does my URL stay the same? | Does my HTML stay the same? |
|---|---|---|
| Responsive Web Design |  |
|
| Dynamic Serving | |
 |
| Separate URLs | |
|
According to Tech Crunch, people are spending an average of 5 hours a day on their mobile devices. In order to effectively reach your target audience and convert that traffic into revenue before your competition, you need to be where that target audience is – on their phones.