Mobile-friendly websites are designed to work well on mobile devices. They're easy to read, navigate, and interact with on smaller screens.
Why mobile-friendly matters
- Mobile traffic exceeds desktop for most sites
- Google uses mobile-first indexing
- Part of Page Experience ranking signal
- Better user experience for mobile visitors
Mobile-friendly characteristics
Design
- Readable text without zooming
- Links spaced for touch targets
- No horizontal scrolling
- Content fits viewport
Technical
- Responsive design or separate mobile site
- Fast load times on mobile networks
- Touch-friendly interactions
- Proper viewport meta tag
Testing mobile-friendliness
- Chrome DevTools device mode
- Lighthouse mobile audit
- Google Search Console (URL Inspection tool)
- PageSpeed Insights
Common mobile issues
- Text too small to read
- Links too close together
- Content wider than screen
- Blocked resources (CSS, JS)
- Intrusive interstitials
- Slow loading on 3G/4G
Related Terms
Core Web Vitals
A set of three metrics defined by Google that measure the loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability of a web page.
Google Search Console
A free tool from Google that helps website owners monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot their site's presence in Google Search results.
Page Experience
A set of signals that Google uses to measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page beyond its pure information value.
Responsive Design
A web design approach that makes pages render well on all screen sizes and devices, from desktop monitors to mobile phones.