After our post about how Google now has a mobile first index for websites, some have asked how can you test to see if a website is mobile friendly?
With more than 50% of patients now using mobile devices for their web searches, and Google punishing sites that aren’t developed for mobile, it’s more important than ever to have a mobile friendly site.
Here are two quick and easy ways you can test your practice’s website to see if it is mobile friendly.
#1. Test On Your Smartphone
A quick way to test if your practice’s website is mobile friendly is to pull it up on your smartphone.
If the text is too small to read, and you need to zoom in and scroll to read it, that’s a pretty clear indication your site is not mobile friendly.
Here is an example of a site that is NOT mobile friendly:
Disclaimer: You’ll notice that we’ve blocked out any identifying text/images for all examples. We’re not trying to “pick on” anyone, rather using these screenshots as an opportunity to educate on sites that
As you can see, the text is too small to read without zooming in.
Additionally, the Navigation Menu and links are too close together, preventing the user from navigating the website easily.
You’ll also notice the blank white space below the footer. This is another indication that this practice’s website is not mobile friendly.
Compare that to this practice:
As you can see, this site has been built for mobile, with the navigation being easy for the patients.
If you navigate the site for example to a blog post, you’ll see that the text is easy to read on the mobile device.
#2. Use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test
Before Google let everyone know that “Mobilegeddon” was coming, they released guidelines as well as a tool that allows anyone to test if their website is mobile friendly.
To get to this test, just type in “am I mobile friendly” into Google, or go directly there by clicking this link.
Once you have the Mobile-Friendly Test pulled up, type the URL of your practice’s website and then click the “Run Test” button.
Once the Google test has completed a quick review of your practice’s website, it will then give you a quick report if you’re mobile friendly or not.
If you’re site is not yet mobile friendly, they will give you a few areas of improvement, but at that point you’re best bet is to invest in a website redesign that is optimized for mobile.
What If My Practice’s Website Is NOT Mobile Friendly?
The best thing to do in this situation is to invest in a website redesign right away.
With 77% of all patients using web search prior to booking an appointment, and most of them doing so on a mobile device, making sure patients can
a). Find you and
b). Have a good experience on your website is vital to your practice’s continued success.