‘Mobile Friendly’ & ‘Non-Mobile Friendly’ Icons Showing in Search Results

As a regular reader of our content, you will have heard us harp on in the past about how important mobile websites are for your business. And even though you may be sick of the way technology has invaded our lives, there’s no getting away from it, particularly when it comes to your online business.

But don’t just take our word for it, see for yourself. So let’s run a quick test; take your phone out of your pocket and do a quick search for something in Google. It can be for whatever you like; your business’ name, your competitors, or “Belgian chocolate hampers”, just in case you feel like treating yourself after this experiment.

Once you’ve hit that search button, look carefully at the results you see before you. Amongst the usual title and description, what else is there? When we carried out a search for ‘Vibe Creative’ on our mobile phones we got these results:

See those in red? That’s Google telling us, as mobile users, which of those websites are mobile friendly, or easy to access when using a mobile device, such as a smartphone or a tablet.

If it hasn’t worked for you this time round, don’t worry. It seems Google is currently testing this, so it might not appear for everyone right now. But you can bet your bonnet that we’re going to be seeing it a lot more in the near future.

Google’s top priority has always been to give people a great user experience and so they’re constantly coming up with new ways in which to do this. This indication of whether a website is mobile friendly is just the latest development and they will come up with more. Unfortunately, Google’s desire to continually create a better user experience can often cause problems for webmasters. Take this new development for instance; if your website’s not mobile friendly and people are being informed about this before they’ve even accessed your website, it could mean you start to see problems. We hate to be the bearers of bad news but Google might as well be pointing a large red cross at the result for your website and saying “Hey guys, you see this website here? Well because we’re so big and clever, we can tell it’s not mobile friendly meaning, chances are, you’re not going to have a great time accessing it. So we wouldn’t even bother! But this one, on the other hand…” *insert large green tick for your competitors’ website* “…is brilliant if you’re accessing it with a mobile. Better just go there instead.”

Having a responsive website (e.g. a website that will adapt to all devices and screen resolutions, no matter how it’s accessed) could mean the difference between a person clicking on your website and making a purchase or enquiry, or between them dismissing your website entirely before they’ve even gone so far as to actually visit you and see what you have to offer. Even if you have a fantastic product that far exceeds anything your competitors are selling, if Google is instantly telling someone that, actually, they may not have the best user experience if they try accessing your website with a mobile device, you can bet this will have an effect and you may start to see a drop in the number of people clicking through to your website from their smartphones or tablets.

As you can see in the image above, Google appears to be using two different indicators at the moment; one is text based and the other is a small mobile icon. We believe Google is testing both of these to see which has the better effect and, eventually, they will just choose to use the one.

And just to kick you while you’re down, if you don’t have a mobile version of your website, the news gets worse as Google also seems to be testing non-mobile friendly icons too, which look similar to the below. Google’s almost naming and shaming those who don’t currently have a mobile version of their website.

So even if you’re not a lover of new technology, it’s an undeniable fact that, not only is mobile here to stay, but your potential customers or clients are using it to try and find your business. Don’t let Google simply try to push your business aside by tarnishing you with the ‘Non-Mobile Friendly’ brush. Meet your customers’ needs and demands by investing in a responsive website.

It may sound complicated but honestly, the process couldn’t be easier. Here at Vibe, we’re experts in creating bespoke responsive websites and we’ll make every effort to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible. So not only will you be making things easier for your website visitors, you’ll also be making a transition to help your business move with the times, whilst we will make it as undisruptive as possible to the everyday occurrences in your company. Sound good? Give us a call and let’s have a proper chat about it.