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We’d like to take a moment to discuss mobile websites, but if you’re looking for the quick win. Click here to go straight to the Mobile test instructions. 

Performance impact
Role: Marketers
high
Performance impact: high
low
Difficulty: low

What’s different about Mobile websites?

The way a website appears on smartphones and tablets is different to a desktop, and the way they are used is different too. For example Mobile can be exactly that, used in transit. Noone is ever moving around when accessing a website on a desktop computer. But your website visitors using a mobile device could be on a rickety bus journey, holding shopping in the other hand, or in an area of patchy internet connection. A badly designed website can be a mere annoyance sitting at a desk with a PC, but for a mobile user it can destroy a potential customer’s willingness to ever visit your website again.   

There are many different types of device out there with many variations of screen size, resolution, in portrait and landscape and it’s difficult to design with all these variations in mind. But it does all boil to the concept of Responsive design. Bad design is amplified on mobile devices, so keeping things uncluttered and simple will lead to a good user experience on most devices and mean a user is less likely to miss-click or tap one a button that’s too close to another. 

Mobile Friendly design

The biggest sins when forgetting mobile users tend to be to do with the size of the screen and the ability of a website user to access the content.

Clickable elements displayed too close together 

There’s nothing worse than trying to click a link, or button that’s too small and clicking the wrong thing. This happens to even the most nimble fingered user, it’s very frustrating for mobile device users, and clearly not a good user experience.

Supporting only one image resolution

This is usually a technical setup issue. But displaying images or text that won’t resize to fit a mobile screen will lead to the worst visitor experience ever, with images and text that must be scrolled passed or around to access the site. Only the most die hard user will try to access a website in this state. 

Forgetting About the Search Bar

This is the safety net of websites that have a lot of content but the architecture is challenging or the navigation options are complex on a mobile device. A search bar can mean the difference between a member accessing the content they need or give up and you lose their attention and retention.


How to use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

Okay this Quick win is a lovely simple one to try but the interpretation may require a bit more knowledge, so let’s start with how to use Google’s Mobile-Friendly test tool.

Go to the test tool page: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

Enter the URL of the webpage you want to test and click go!

Mobile-friendly test results

Page is usable on mobile

The score you want to have is “Page is usable on mobile” this means your page has passed Congratulations your website is a great place to be for mobile device users, there may be a few minor issues which won’t show in. 

However, the following mobile friendly test results are also possible:

No data available 

Ok, that is not good, hopefully the tool is having an issue, otherwise you might need to contact your tech team. 

URL is not available to Google

Are you trying to test a page that isn’t published or public? Google can only read pages that it can access with its robot crawlers.  

Page isn’t usable on mobile

You have failed the test, there are one or more issues that mean your website is not Mobile friendly and will provide descriptions of the problems.

Did your website fail the Mobile-friendly test?

Don’t worry, Lighthouse can help you fix your mobile issues and you will notice the difference straight away. More visitors, and more conversions. 

Let's ace your next Mobile Friendly check up with our Web Performance solution.


Have you tried this quick win?

Was it easy to follow? Did it take more than 5 minutes and has it had any impact (so far)? Share your thoughts and help other membership organisations improve their Website Performance.

Is your website too slow? Then check your Core Web Vitals (CCVs)

Performance Impact
Role: Marketers, Tech Team
high
Performance Impact: high
medium
Difficulty: medium

A slow website is bad for users. The ideal website load time is 1-2 seconds, with 50% of visitors abandoning the website visit if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load. Trying to stand out online isn’t easy. The last thing you need is to have your customers abandon your website for your competitors’ faster website. Google aims for under half-a-second load time, (I know scary, right?) and so slow website are also likely to fall down the Google rankings. If you’re reading this post it means you’re now asking yourself one question…

How fast is my website?

Measuring your website speed is easy to do and very important. A very slow website load time will have your members pulling their hair out and can be a negative Google ranking factor. But understanding what page speed means is slightly more difficult. So let’s talk about Core Web Vitals (CCVs).

What are Core Web Vitals?

In June 2021 Google introduced the three performance metrics that can be used to measure a websites speed and which impact rankings, in an effort to encourage a better user experience on the web – These metrics are known as the Core Web Vitals (CCV’c) and include:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Tracks page loading speed. From the time your web browser starts to load until the main content of a web page is loaded and ready to go.

First Input Delay (FID)

Tracks the time it takes before someone interacts with the page. By interaction we talking about clicking links, scrolling the page, etc. 

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Tracks visual stability on the page. Ok, a slightly more complex one here. Have you ever started browsing content on a page, when suddenly the article you were reading jumps down the page and an advert appears in its place? This would cause a large CLS score.

Why should Membership Organisations care about CWV’s?

So, just to summarise: Core Web Vitals are important for SEO, as they can help give your website more recognition which improves your website’s visibility and ranking in browsers. It also contributes towards an improved user experience. 

For Membership organisations your website is supposed to be a hub for your members to connect with you and each other. A slow experience will drive your members away, ruining your member retention levels.

How to check your Core Web Vitals (CWV)

So now you know the metrics involved and how to evaluate your website speed, let me introduce you to the Google speed test tool called PageSpeed Insights found at  https://pagespeed.web.dev/ 

This is the fun and easy part. Type your website address into the tool and click Go!

Now to see if your website passes or fails the test.

Web Performance solution

Have you improved your CWVs? Did it have an impact on search, traffic or conversions?
Share your experience with other Membership Organisations

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