How do I know if my website works on a phone?

Why the phone version is the one that counts

Plenty of people looking for a local business are holding a phone. They want an answer in a few seconds, often while standing somewhere else.

Google says it uses the phone version of a site's content to decide where the site shows in search results. In plain words, the phone version of your website is the one Google reads to decide where to list you. If the phone version is thin or broken, it counts against you even if the desktop version looks lovely.

The 5 minute test

Do this on your own phone, not on your computer made small. Use mobile data, not your shop wifi, so you see what a customer sees.

• Type your business name into Google and tap your own website.
• Count the seconds until you can read something. If you are still waiting after a few seconds, note it.
• Without pinching or zooming, find your phone number, hours and address.
• Tap the phone number. It should offer to call you, not just show digits.
• Try to book, send a message or ask for a quote. Note every step that annoyed you.
• Turn the phone sideways and back. Nothing should break.

What a good phone site looks like

The text is big enough to read without zooming. Buttons are large enough to tap with a thumb. The menu opens and closes easily. Photos fit the screen and do not push the words off to the side.

Google's recommended way to build a phone-friendly site is called responsive design. It means the same page adapts to the screen it is shown on, so you keep one site, not two. Google says the phone version should carry the same content as the desktop version, including the images and their descriptions.

Common problems

These often come from an older site that was built for computer screens and patched later. They can be fixed, but sometimes a rebuild is cheaper in time than a stack of patches.

• Tiny text that makes you pinch and zoom
• A phone number that is a picture, so it cannot be tapped
• Buttons so close together you hit the wrong one
• A pop-up that covers the page and has no obvious way to close it
• Content that appears on the computer version but is missing on the phone
• A booking form that is hard to fill in with thumbs

What to do with what you find

Write down each thing that went wrong. Then ask a friend who is not in your business to try the same test and watch where they hesitate. That is usually worth more than any report.

If the list is long, our website check-up looks at the phone version page by page and tells you what to fix first. If the whole thing is showing its age, see how to tell if your website is out of date. You can also get in touch.