On April 21, 2015, Google released a new algorithm update under the name “Mobilegeddon”. It punished websites that weren’t mobile-friendly. Google designed and released this algorithm update to put more emphasis on mobile-optimized pages. As a consequence, many mobile-optimized websites received a better position/ranking in Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). At the same time, websites that lacked mobile-optimized web pages lose their positions in Google’s SERPs.

In the immediate aftermath, the need for and popularity of mobile-friendly websites has increased dramatically. Now, almost every business is looking for a mobile friendly or responsive website designed by professional website developers.

A mobile-optimized website guarantees many benefits, as listed below:

• More website visibility
• Better user experience
• More website traffic
• Improved performance in both the search market and the display market.
• Fast download speed
• Portability and connectivity
• Significant brand identity
• New advertising opportunities
• Better engagement with mobile-specific features like click-to-call, mapping features, and more

How to create a mobile friendly website:

Use a responsive design

Responsive web design ensures optimal viewing experience and enhanced interaction experience. A responsive web page is easily configured in various media environments and adapts the screen sizes (resolutions) of various Internet access devices. It becomes easily viewable with minimal resizing, panning, and scrolling effort across a variety of devices like desktop, laptop, smartphone, tablet, iPod, etc.

To do so, professional web designers and website developers use flexible layouts, flexible images, CSS3, Bootstrap, media queries, fluid and ratio-based grids. Responsive web pages are smart enough to detect the size and orientation of the visitor’s screen. You can adopt the modified layout accordingly.

Include a viewport meta tag

The viewport is a virtual area followed by browsers. It helps search engines determine how each piece of content on a web page is scaled and sized. It tells a browser that its web pages should fit the available screen sizes. Using it in the header section is always good and recommended.

Use high resolution images

It is always recommended to use high resolution images. It will ensure a better user experience and a high standard. The latest smartphones are using high definition screens. These need a high resolution image that is almost double a desktop resolution. Getting high-resolution images helps you avoid blurry images and other pixel-related issues.

Be careful with button and font sizes

You need to consider button sizes and font sizes. Button size and font size are very important for smartphones and other mobile devices. The font size must be at least 14px. Similarly, the button size should be at least 44px by 44px (per Apple design guidelines).