People who have to endure long hours of traffic call it Carmageddon because of the number of cars on the road. The techie world also has its own version of armageddon, thanks to the developments in mobile devices and tablets which also triggered the increase of users. Behold Mobilegeddon, the very reason why you need mobile optimization for your website today. It sounds a bit silly having to incorporate “armageddon” into these words for an extra flair, but the genius who coined these terms did manage to get everyone’s attention.

Mobilegeddon is here, ladies and gentlemen, and this is why owners and developers of websites should ensure that their websites are mobile responsive. If you still think that mobile optimization is not important then you might end up making a huge mistake. Why, well simply because today we live in a world where everything is literally a finger tip’s click away. Major websites and online service providers including Google have already started optimizing their websites because they have understood and recognized the need for mobile optimization. As a matter of fact, Google tweaked some codes and algorithms back in 2015 to make their site even more mobile-friendly. Getting your website optimized for the mobile users can do wonders for your site and there’s a very good reason why. But before we dig into that, let’s first understand more about mobile users and optimization.

What Does Mobile Optimization Mean?

Mobile optimization refers to the process of making sure that people who visit your website through their mobile device won’t have a difficult time navigating around the pages. The number of people who use tablets and mobile devices for searching or surfing is increasing each year but despite the growth in numbers, most websites still haven’t been optimized for mobile use. As a result, the pages take an awfully long time to load, the images overlap, and the site layout looks like a total mess. This makes the site visitor click the close button because really, who wants to explore a website that looks like it does not want to accept visitors?

When you optimize your site for the small screen, you are making sure that the end user doesn’t need to go to a computer for getting the information that they need. Through mobile optimization, your site’s structure, design, and page speed will improve because it reformats itself for tablets and mobile devices. The navigation buttons are much bigger, the layout of the content is reformatted, and the images appear depending on the type of device. Reformatting may seem like it’s just playing a small role. However, the truth is that it’s the key to convincing the visitors whenever a buying decision has to be made. When visitors have no problems navigating around a website and the pages too don’t take long to load, they’re able to make decisions faster.

Moving further, let’s discuss the factors that make a website more optimized for the mobiles. It includes the following elements:

Difference Between Mobile Friendly and Mobile Optimized

It is important to note that just because a website is mobile-friendly doesn’t mean that it is mobile optimized. When we say mobile-friendly, we’re only talking about websites that display properly on your tablet or mobile device but when we say mobile optimized, it means that we are able to access the website, pages, tabs, buttons, etc, just as we would on a desktop screen. In the former case, the website may appear a wee bit smaller on the mobile device than it does on the desktop, but there’s a high chance that it won’t work perfectly. There are issues with the functionality of mobile-friendly websites that’s why most developers prefer mobile optimization. It’s a more advanced version of the site, and it’s very user-friendly.

Benefits of Having Your Website Optimized for Mobile Viewing

Mobile optimization is cheaper than app development. When you develop an app, you need to produce apps that different mobile platforms (Android, Symbian, etc) can recognize. You also need to submit it to an app store, and your users need to download the app before they can use it. These are some things that users don’t need to think of when a website is optimized for devices. All they have to do is type the address of the website on the search bar and they’re good to go. There may still be some issues here and there, but with lesser barriers, it still is the best option.

70% Smartphone Searches could lead to purchase. pic.twitter.com/YIcz9ZsMNV

— Ashwarya Infotech (@ashwaryainftch) November 2, 2016

Mobile optimization allows visitors to engage with mobile-specific features such as mapping functions and click-to-call. Local business owners will also benefit from this since visitors will become aware of their whereabouts through features that show geographic proximity. It will increase their traffic online and maybe even offline. Aside from a boost in sales, this will also translate to as an improved SEO performance for Google and Yahoo.

At the end of the day, it’s all about making things easier for your site visitors. The last thing they should worry about is navigating around your website.