Goodbye, Desktop: Why Your Practice Needs a Mobile-Friendly Website

By: Melody Gandy-Bohr

Mobile-friendly websites are a necessity in today’s online marketing. Your patients are just like you, too busy to be tied down to a desktop computer. It’s no wonder that more than 65% of digital media time is represented by mobile usage. While desktops are still commonplace, mobile now dominates the market. Here are three reasons why your practice needs a mobile-friendly website now more than ever before.

More Searches on Mobile Devices

In 2015, Google announced that mobile searches had surpassed desktop searches for the first time. Since then, Google has stressed the importance of mobile, largely in regards to ranking websites. Mobile-friendly websites receive a higher search engine ranking and if you want to increase traffic to your website, it needs to be easy to read on mobile devices.

Consistent User Experience

Any content that is available on your practice’s desktop site should also be available on your mobile site. If your practice’s mobile website doesn’t show content users are looking for, you could lose out on valuable new patients. To ensure the best possible user experience, check your mobile website to ensure content from your desktop is accessible on mobile devices as well.

The Mobile-First Index

Google determines a mobile website’s ranking by looking at the desktop version of the site. They recently announced that it will be doing the exact opposite with the Mobile-First Index update. Once the update goes into effect, your practice’s website ranking will depend on your mobile site. If your mobile website is not up to Google’s standards, this will negatively impact your ranking on desktop and mobile search engine results.

While Google hasn’t announced when the update will roll out, it’s best to anticipate it will happen soon. The best way to prepare your practice’s website is by upgrading to a mobile-responsive site that is optimized for mobile indexing.

If you already have a mobile-responsive website, there is a good chance your website’s ranking won’t be affected by the Mobile-First Index. Even if your website is not mobile-responsive, there’s still time to make improvements. It’s important to understand that this is happening because of the shift in how users are searching online. Upgrading your website will lead to a better overall user experience for your site visitors and increased traffic for your practice.