{"id":631,"date":"2014-11-26T11:45:20","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T16:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/?p=631"},"modified":"2019-04-04T18:03:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T22:03:56","slug":"google-webmaster-tools-mobile-usability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/google-webmaster-tools-mobile-usability\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Webmaster Tools Mobile Usability"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GoogleEarlier this month, Google quietly rolled out a “Mobile Usability” section of it’s Google Webmaster Tools. \u00a0You can locate this tool by logging into your GWT account, selecting\u00a0any site, and expanding\u00a0the “Search Traffic” dropdown. \u00a0With this update, it’s clear that Google is now paying attention that sites that are willing to invest in mobile developement of their sites. \u00a0But what about non-mobile sites?<\/p>\n

Is Google Penalizing Non-Mobile Sites?<\/h2>\n

So far, no, it doesn’t appear that Google will penalize you for having a non-mobile site in the strictest sense. \u00a0I think when the dust settles and the results are in from this mobile expansion, Google will promote sites that are mobile-friendly and\/or responsive to users that are on mobile devices.<\/p>\n

What this could mean is that if your site focuses heavily on mobile users for conversions and organic traffic, such as e-commerce sites, establishing a mobile friendly site should be a top priority<\/strong><\/em> (if it wasn’t already). \u00a0This goes doubly so if your competitor sites are not mobile friendly, as this should start providing an early SEO<\/a> advantage\u00a0soon.<\/p>\n

What Is Google Looking For?<\/h2>\n

It looks like Google is monitoring mobile usability for a few things.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Viewport not configured<\/h3>\n

Every mobile device is different and has different screen size. \u00a0This bit of code helps to adjust the site’s preferred viewing size to match the device’s screen. \u00a0This should be an easy fix for most sites. \u00a0See examples on Google of viewport and how to utilize it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Small font size<\/h3>\n

If you have to zoom in or pinch-zoom to read the small font size on a mobile device, this flag for your site. \u00a0If your site uses CSS, this should be an easy fix. \u00a0If your site doesn’t use CSS, you should be ashamed.<\/p>\n

Touch elements too close<\/h3>\n

This may be something that requires a redesign. \u00a0If portions of your site are too close together and users will have a hard time engaging one button from another, you’ll be flagged.<\/p>\n

Flash usage<\/h3>\n

This appears to be the death knell for Flash – if your site has it, Google will flag it. Most mobile devices simply don’t run Flash, and as a result, Google will flag it.<\/p>\n

Content not sized to viewport<\/h3>\n

This flat means that you have content that requires scrolling horizontally to view, including images and words. \u00a0Correcting this flag will require pages to use relative position and width in CSS. \u00a0Images will also need to be corrected for mobile as they must scale too. \u00a0Learn more about Viewport Content on Google’s Developer Site.<\/a><\/p>\n

Fixed-width Viewport<\/h3>\n

This shows pages that have a viewport set to a fixed-width. The only way to fix this error is to move to\u00a0responsive web design \u00a0See examples of how to correctly set the viewport on Google’s Developer Site.<\/a><\/p>\n

Get Started On Mobile Development Now<\/h2>\n

One thing is clear – Google is beginning to cull it’s massive data for sites that are primed and ready for mobile. \u00a0All it takes is Google moving their needle from a 0<\/strong> to 1<\/strong> in this ranking factor and many, many sites will fall off of the radar, and many will be promoted. \u00a0If a significant amount of your leads originate from organic search, contact your web development agency or in-house team to start the conversion and get an early jump on the competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, Google quietly rolled out a “Mobile Usability” section of it’s Google Webmaster Tools. Learn more about what this means for your site in a coming mobile-friendly world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46,47,32],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle Webmaster Tools Mobile Usability - www.gregcruce.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Earlier this month, Google quietly rolled out a "Mobile Usability" section of it's Google Webmaster Tools, to give mobile sites feedback and maybe an edge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/google-webmaster-tools-mobile-usability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google Webmaster Tools Mobile Usability - www.gregcruce.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier this month, Google quietly rolled out a "Mobile Usability" section of it's Google Webmaster Tools, to give mobile sites feedback and maybe an edge.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/google-webmaster-tools-mobile-usability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"www.gregcruce.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-26T16:45:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-04T22:03:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-webmaster-tools.gif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"580\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"146\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Cruce\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/gregcruce\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gregcruce\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Cruce\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/google-webmaster-tools-mobile-usability\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/google-webmaster-tools-mobile-usability\/\",\"name\":\"Google Webmaster Tools Mobile Usability - 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