For years, the only way people were able to access the internet was through a desktop computer. Most people didn’t have private computers in their homes until years after the first computers were introduced to the world. After their inclusions in homes, more and more people began surfing the web. As time passed, the technology used to create these devices improved, increasing load speeds while enhancing user experience.
However, something changed in 2007. More than a decade ago, Steve Jobs walked on stage at the Macworld Expo and introduced the world to an updated iPod, a phone, and a mini-computer. But he didn’t bring out three products. Just one. The iPhone. This invention is often regarded as one of the most significant devices launched not only in this century but of all time.
In over a decade since its debut, Apple has sold over one billion iPhones. It spearheaded the smartphone revolution and changed how we interacted with the digital realm. It sparked the creation of a whole host of smartphones from different manufacturers. Experts predict that by 2025, nearly 75% of internet users will access the web from their smartphones.
Every year, smartphones continue to grow in popularity and prevalence. Because of this, businesses have had to shift how their websites operate. Over half of global web traffic comes from mobile devices, according to Statista, and that number continues to rise each year.
Because of this perpetual increase in mobile web traffic, you must optimize your website for mobile. If not, you put yourself and your business in a position to fail. ARYU Advertising is here to help you optimize your website to improve your online performance.
The Importance of an Optimized Website
For most internet users, their smartphones prove to be far more versatile and convenient than using a desktop. This is just one reason why so many people have turned to their smartphones as their primary internet browser.
If you haven’t invested time into making your site mobile-friendly, you’re hurting your business. Some reasons why having an optimized website is important include:
- Mobile-friendly sites perform better in search results. Google has made a concerted effort in serving mobile users by providing them with mobile-friendly pages. If your site isn’t optimized, you won’t appear.
- Over half of the searches made on Google are mobile searches. According to Statista, about 64% of Google searches are made on mobile devices, nearly doubling the figure from five years ago.
- People are five times more like to leave your site if it isn’t mobile-friendly.
- For advertisers, mobile phone users make up the majority of web traffic.
It’s crucial that your site is optimized for mobile. An optimized site means that the content on your page is easy to consume, users have no trouble navigating your site, and it’s easy for users to take action. The overall user experience should be swift, easy, and fast.
Optimizing Your Website
Before you begin working on your site, it’s in your best interest to test how well its current mobile-friendliness is. It may be more friendly than you first thought.
Access your website through different devices, such as your smartphone, your tablet, or your smartwatch. You can see what doesn’t work and how pages load. You can better see how your web design translates from desktop to mobile. Navigation and content readability should also be a major focus as you access your site.
Once you’ve done this, you can take it one step further by utilizing Google’s own testing tool. Google created the Mobile-Friendly Test tool, which allows you to test your site and see how it measures up to mobile page standards.
All you need to do is enter your URL and run the test. The test will let you know if your site is mobile-friendly or not. If not, it will provide you with the parts of your site that need to be improved, like text size or load speed. Even if your site is rated positively, there still may be areas to improve.
After using this test, you’ll have a better grasp on how to properly optimize your website for mobile.
Less is More
While mobile phones continue to improve, they still don’t possess the processing power as their desktop counterparts. This often leads to slow load speeds.
You need to focus your web design and think smaller. After all, the real estate available to you on smartphones is much smaller than on a desktop. Eliminate the clutter. You have to cut down on the content on your site. Only keep what is necessary. Limit the number of animations, media, pop-ups, extensions, and more to ensure that your site not only loads quicker but is easier to navigate and read.
Use a Responsive Theme
Arguably one of the best ways to optimize your website is to ensure that your theme is responsive. This simply means that your site will render properly for whatever device is accessing it. Regardless of the device, web browser, or screen size, it will appear correctly.
While most sites are responsive, you can’t assume they are. When searching for a theme, make sure to look for responsive themes. Many of them mention this in their descriptions, so remember to check. Many options on the WordPress Theme Directory are already responsive.
Choose a theme that fits your site and install it. Review how it looks on other devices to make sure it works properly.
Improve Load Time
As we have mentioned previously, your page load speed is incredibly important. The quicker your load times are, the lower your bounce rates will be. Even a one-second delay can reduce conversions by 7%. Furthermore, research shows that 53% of users will leave a mobile page if it doesn’t load in under three seconds.
Google introduced a Speed Update, which made site speed a mobile page ranking factor. Because of this, you need to make efforts to decrease your load times. You can do this by:
- Use caching
- Compress images
- Keep your entire site up to date
- Optimize your website code
- Eliminate excess clutter
You can test your load speed using Google’s Mobile Speed Test tool to see how many seconds you need to shave off.
Utilize Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Google has continued to push to make surfing the web a more pleasant experience for mobile users. So much so that they partnered with several other companies to release Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) in 2015. Countless sites already implement AMP on their mobile sites.
AMP is a streamlined method of making site pages mobile-friendly. AMP strips down the HTML of your site and eliminates any unnecessary media files. Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about the technical aspect of AMP to earn its benefits.
The way people surf the internet has changed drastically in just over a decade. With the introduction of the iPhone, more and more people use mobile devices to search the web. Ensuring that your website is optimized for mobile is crucial for the success of your business. There are countless more ways to optimize your website, and ARYU Advertising is here to help.
