Here’s your article converted to UK English spelling and grammar, with tone adjusted to sound natural for a UK audience while keeping your original clarity and flow.
I’m going to tell you something that might surprise you: more than half of your website visitors are probably viewing it on their phones — maybe even more. For some businesses, it’s closer to 70 or 80 per cent.
And if your website doesn’t work properly on a phone, those people are leaving. They’re not persevering with tiny text they can’t read or buttons they can’t tap. They’re hitting the back button and going straight to your competitor instead.
This isn’t just about user experience, though that’s important. Google now uses your mobile site to determine your rankings. If your site doesn’t work on mobile, you won’t rank well. It’s that simple.
What “Mobile‑Friendly” Actually Means
When people talk about mobile‑friendly websites, they usually mean responsive design. That’s where your website automatically adjusts to fit whatever screen size someone’s using.
On a desktop computer, you might see three columns of content. On a tablet, it might rearrange to two. On a phone, everything stacks neatly into a single column. Same content — different layout.
The alternative is having a separate mobile site, but that’s old‑fashioned now and causes more problems than it solves. Responsive design is the way forward.
But being mobile‑friendly isn’t just about layout. It’s about the whole experience. Can people read your text without zooming in? Can they tap your buttons without accidentally hitting the wrong one? Does your site load quickly on a mobile connection? All of that matters.
The Text Size Problem
This is the most obvious issue with non‑mobile‑friendly sites — the text is too small to read on a phone.
Your text needs to be at least 16 pixels on mobile. Anything smaller and people will have to zoom in to read it, which is annoying and makes them leave.
And it’s not just the body text. Your navigation menu, buttons, and forms all need to be readable on a small screen.
The good news is that if your site is properly responsive, this should be sorted automatically. But it’s worth checking, because I still see sites where the text is tiny on mobile even though they claim to be responsive.
The Button Size Problem
On a desktop, you can click precisely with a mouse. On a phone, you’re tapping with a finger, which is much less accurate.
Your buttons and links need to be big enough to tap easily. Google recommends at least 48 pixels tall. And they need to be spaced out so you don’t accidentally press the wrong one.
This problem crops up a lot with navigation menus. On desktop, you might have a horizontal menu with links close together — fine. But on mobile, those links need to be bigger and further apart, or people will keep hitting the wrong ones.
The same principle applies to forms. Input fields need to be large enough to use comfortably, and your submit button should be obvious and easy to tap.
The Loading Speed Issue
Mobile connections are often slower than broadband, and people on phones tend to be more impatient.
If your site takes more than a few seconds to load on mobile, people will leave. Google knows this, which is why site speed is a ranking factor — especially for mobile.
The main culprits are usually images. If you’re loading huge desktop‑sized images on a phone, that’s going to slow things down. Your site should serve smaller, optimised images to mobile devices.
Another common slowdown is too much code — plugins, scripts, and unnecessary extras that bloat your pages. Keep your site lean.
How to Check If Your Site Is Mobile‑Friendly
The easiest way is simply to look at it on your phone. Go to your website on mobile and actually use it. Try to navigate, read the content, and fill in a form if you have one.
If anything’s difficult or annoying, that’s something you need to fix.
Google also provides a Mobile‑Friendly Test tool. Just search for it, enter your URL, and it will tell you whether your site meets their mobile‑friendly criteria — along with specific issues if there are any.
You can also check your Google Search Console; if Google’s having trouble with your mobile site, it will show up there.
The Navigation Menu Challenge
Desktop navigation menus often don’t translate well to mobile. You might have a horizontal menu with dropdown submenus — fine for a desktop, awkward on a phone.
Most mobile sites now use a “hamburger menu” — those three horizontal lines you tap to open a menu. It’s become the standard because it works and people understand it.
Your mobile menu should be simple. Don’t cram everything in; just include the main pages and perhaps a phone number or contact button.
And make sure it’s easy to close — clunky menus that refuse to disappear are incredibly annoying.
The Contact Information Priority
On mobile, people often want to contact you straight away. They might be searching for a plumber because they’ve got a leak, or a restaurant because they’re hungry now.
Your phone number should be prominent and clickable — when someone taps it, it should open their phone app so they can call immediately.
Your address should be easy to find and ideally link to a map app for directions.
Don’t hide this information in a contact page that’s three clicks away — make it visible straight away.
Forms on Mobile
If you have contact or booking forms on your website, they need to work flawlessly on a phone.
Keep them short and simple. Don’t ask for unnecessary information — every additional field is extra friction for someone on a small screen.
Use the right input types. If you’re asking for a phone number, use a number input field so the numeric keypad appears automatically. If you’re asking for an email address, use an email input so the “@” symbol is available.
Make sure your submit button is large, obvious, and functions properly. And let people know what happens after they press it.
Images and Media
Images must work well on mobile — that means correctly sized and quick to load.
Avoid using text baked into images — it doesn’t scale properly and becomes unreadable on small screens.
If you have videos, make sure they’re responsive too. They should resize automatically and have easy‑to‑use controls.
And be careful with background images: they can look beautiful on desktop but awkwardly cropped on mobile if not handled well.
The Zoom Problem
If your site is properly responsive, users shouldn’t need to zoom in to read or click anything. If they do, something’s not right.
That said, don’t disable zooming entirely — some visitors rely on it for accessibility reasons. Just make sure your default view is comfortable without zooming.
Testing on Different Devices
Don’t rely on just your own phone. Different models and browsers behave differently.
If possible, test on both iPhone and Android devices, and on various screen sizes. You don’t need to test everything on the market — a few common ones will reveal most issues.
What If Your Site Isn’t Mobile‑Friendly?
If your website was built more than a few years ago and hasn’t been updated, there’s a good chance it’s not mobile‑friendly.
You’ve basically got two options: update your existing site to make it responsive, or rebuild it from scratch.
Updating is often cheaper and quicker, but it depends on how your site was built — some older systems are difficult to adapt without a full rebuild.
If you rebuild, make sure it’s done mobile‑first — design for mobile screens first, then scale up for desktop. That ensures the experience is optimised where it matters most.
The Business Impact
I’ve seen businesses lose significant traffic simply because their website didn’t work properly on mobile. People would find them on Google, click through, discover the site was unusable, and leave.
I’ve also seen businesses gain traffic and customers just by making their sites mobile‑friendly. It’s no longer a luxury — it’s essential.
For local businesses, this is even more critical. People searching for nearby services are usually on their phones while out and about. If your site doesn’t work properly, you’re losing those customers to competitors whose sites do.
The Google Perspective
Google switched to mobile‑first indexing a while ago. That means they use the mobile version of your site to determine rankings — even for desktop searches.
If your mobile site is missing content that’s on your desktop site, Google won’t know about it. If it’s slow or broken, that hurts your visibility everywhere.
That’s why mobile‑friendliness isn’t optional anymore. It directly influences whether you show up in search results at all.
Is It Worth the Investment?
If your site isn’t mobile‑friendly, fixing it should be a top priority. Yes, it might cost money — but the cost of ignoring it is far greater.
You’re losing customers every day to competitors with sites that actually work on mobile. You’re falling behind in search rankings and damaging your brand.
A mobile‑friendly site isn’t a nice‑to‑have. It’s a basic requirement for doing business online in 2026. If you haven’t sorted it yet, now’s the time to act.