Mobile-Friendly Website Design Checklist for 2025
(Because more than 1/2 of your traffic is probably visiting on their smartphones)
In the 1970s, mobile phones were a curiosity. Today, web browsing on smartphones is how most people shop and find local businesses.
How mobile-friendly is your website? It better be fast, reliable, and easy to use on the hundreds of possible devices. Otherwise, all those potential customers will likely be gone in seconds--clicking on a competitor instead.
July 4, 2025 • 11 min read
As of April 2025, just over half of all US web traffic comes from smartphones. If your site isn't focused on providing these visitors with a fast, easy-to-navigate experience, they're likely to leave--straight to a competitor who offers a smoother mobile experience.
Here are a few other statistics to consider:
- 63% of us browse more on our phones than with a traditional laptop or desktop computer.
- 61% of us are more likely to return to, and 67% are more likely to buy from, websites that provide us with a good mobile experience.
How can you make sure that your website isn't turning away all these mobile visitors? The following mobile-friendly optimization guide discusses the many factors to consider when evaluating your website. We've divided them into four key areas:
- Design and Usability: How your pages look and perform.
- Content Strategy: How to structure your content and deliver it in an easy-to-read, mobile-friendly format.
- Mobile SEO: How well search engines are able to understand and find value in your content.
- Testing Tools: Mobile devices are as different as their users. We suggest free, easy-to-use tools to make certain that ALL of your visitors have a rewarding experience.
Our goal is to help you not just rearrange elements on web pages but rather to rethink your site's mobile experience from the ground up.
? Pop Quiz: Is responsive design the same as mobile-friendly? Check Answer
No. Responsive design is important, but it's just one step on the path to making a website mobile-friendly. It adapts page sections and elements to different screen sizes.
True mobile-friendly design addresses more than just visual adaptability. It also considers crucial factors like lightning-fast performance, a user experience that's tailored for touch, and distinct mobile user behaviors.
I. Design and Usability
Mobile users often access your website on slow internet connections and in less-than-ideal conditions--far less controlled than most desktop settings. They're often contending with small screens, bright sunlight, while multitasking, or while on the go. That's why mobile design must prioritize clarity, speed, and ease of use above all else.
A site that works beautifully on a desktop can become frustrating or even unusable on a phone if it isn't thoughtfully adapted. But it is not just the device that sets mobile visitors apart; their online behavior is unique as well.
Mobile visitors are less likely to read a page top-to-bottom and more likely to be in a hurry, looking for the specific information they need.
- Responsive design: A design technique that enables pages to modify their layouts automatically, depending on the visitor's screen size. This allows guests to easily view all of the content without the need to pinch in or out or scroll horizontally. (But, as you'll see below, having a responsive site does not guarantee that a site is truly mobile-friendly.)
- Tap-friendly navigation: Ensures that links and buttons are large enough and spaced far enough apart for easy clicking. (Remember, many mobile users type with their thumbs--and struggling to tap the right link is frustrating.)
- Optimized typography: Use 16-20px font size for body copy and 1.5-1.75em line height with high contrast. Mobile visitors should not have to strain or pinch and expand to read content.
- Generous use of white space: It's easy to feel overwhelmed when confronted with a nearly solid block of gray text, especially on small devices.
- Streamlined layout: Stick to single-column layouts. Simplicity is important for small mobile devices.
Limiting the width of your content to no more than 40-50 characters per line helps both initial impression and reading comprehension. Other 'ease-of-reading' tips include allowing plenty of 'breathing room' above and below paragraphs (allowing the reader's eye to rest), breaking content into small (and somewhat related) sections, and generous use of visuals, lists, callouts, quotes, or other approaches that support the content and create interest. - Streamlined forms: Use appropriate input types (tel, email), autocomplete, and no more fields than necessary.
- Image performance: Use
srcset, modern image formats, compression tools, and lazy loading. As our post on advanced image optimization techniques demonstrates, these techniques allowed us to display images that look identical, yet reduce initial page loading time by 96%. - Prioritize content above the fold: Place CTAs (Calls to Action) and critical content early. (To learn about creating reader-friendly content, see our discussion of Inverted Pyramid Stucture for Writing).
- Keep Navigation and Contact Info Readily Available: Make sure your logo, phone number, or contact button stays visible as users scroll. This encourages engagement and boosts conversion rates.
Example:
The following screen snapshots illustrate the many advantages of offering a sticky menu for mobile visitors.
Left: The default view as visitors land on our home page. We have a standard-looking menu bar, along with a tap-to-call link, just above the main content.
Center: As guests scroll down the page, the mobile menu bar attaches to the top of the screen, and our logo (with a link to the home page) displays. This keeps the navigation and phone number easily accessible at all times--less backtracking and no scrambling to locate our contact information.
Right: The expanded menu. Its edge-to-edge width allows us to include plenty of keywords in a natural manner (which is important for SEO, since Google analyzes the mobile version of your site for ranking purposes). Plus, the space allows for a convenient call-to-action.
II. Content Strategy for Mobile Users
Mobile visitors rarely read a website word for word, from top to bottom. They tend to scroll quickly, skim headlines, and zero in on content that answers their immediate needs. That's why your content must be scannable, direct, and action-oriented.
- Bullet points and subheadings: Improve the ability to scan the content for readers that are in a hurry or on the go.
- Embed Google Maps and "Tap-to-Call": Make location and contact actions convenient. Vicinity and service areas are important signals to Google when they're delivering 'near me' or 'close to me' search results.
- Show Google Reviews or Testimonials: Builds trust quickly, especially for local businesses. 88% of consumers say that they are influenced as much by online testimonials and reviews from strangers as they are by the recommendations of friends or family.
- Effective CTAs: Use buttons specifying clear, actionable directions: "Get a Quote," "Call Now," "See Pricing." Often, these subtle nudges are all it takes to convert casual visitors into customers.
- Use FAQs: These are natural ways to work in topics that are important, particularly for mobile users: urgency, service areas, and real customer questions. Plus, they are ideal ways to include keywords and search phrases in your copy (which we will be discussing next).
Further Reading:
To learn about the power of Calls-to-Action (with examples), check out our Call to Action Best Practices blog post.
III. Mobile SEO & Performance
Mobile users tend to search differently than desktop users. They often use voice search, conversational queries ("Where is the nearest coffee shop?"), or look for immediate, local solutions ("I need an emergency late-night plumber in West Asheville!"). Optimizing for mobile SEO helps ensure that your site ranks well and convinces users that you offer the exact solution they're searching for.
- Fast load times: 53% of users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds. Unfortunately, a study by Tooltester reports that the average mobile webpage load time in 2025 is nearly 9 seconds! Use CDNs, caching, optimized images, and light fonts and scripts.
- Mobile-first indexing: Google uses the mobile version of your website as the primary source for indexing and ranking--not the desktop version. So if important content, menu links, graphics, calls-to-action, or other elements display on desktop but not mobile, Google won't consider them in your rankings.
- Voice search optimization: Write content that answers conversational queries.
- Local SEO: Mention cities and neighborhoods serviced, and "near me" phrases. Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile.
- Schema markup: Add
LocalBusinessschema with business hours, service area, and contact info. You'll find an example to follow on our post about SEO-optimized head tags: page title, meta descriptions, and schema markup for local businesses. - Meta titles and descriptions: Make them click-worthy on mobile: short, action-oriented, and keyword-rich.
✓ Pop Quiz: Does SEO really even matter anymore, with AI taking over ? Check Answer
However, for local service businesses, SEO is still critically important. AI can't replace a reliable roofer, dentist, landscaper, pet groomer, wedding photographer, or mechanic. People still turn to search engines when they need real-world solutions in their specific city or neighborhood. Businesses that show up at the top of local search results are the ones most likely to get the call.
So yes, SEO still matters. There's as much business as ever to be gained for savvy local and specialty companies that are able to stand out in search.
IV. Tools to Audit Your Mobile Site
Testing your site across devices and browsers is critical. That's because different phones, browsers, and even different versions of the same browser can render websites differently. What looks polished on your iPhone in Safari might be broken, slow, or not even load at all on an Android device in Chrome. You can't assume that a page that's perfect on your device will look and perform equally well on someone else's. The following tools can help you catch mobile issues early, improve performance, and track how users actually experience your site in real-life settings.
- PageSpeed Insights
- Lighthouse extension for Chrome browser
- Hotjar: A popular user behavior tracking tool that offers advanced features such as surveys, feedback widgets, and even interviews. (Their free plan has limited daily recordings and features.)
- Microsoft Clarity: Another user behavior tracking tool. Completely free, without recording or time limits, and easy to install.
- BrowserStack: Allows you to see how your site looks and behaves on different devices.
Examples:
Two large companies caught our eye recently. Both are enviable brands that have clean, engaging, and professional-looking desktop sites. But, we believe that each may have opportunities for improvement.
(This is not intended to be critical of either site, but rather to illustrate that even large corporations must remain diligent at testing and refining their mobile layouts.)
This first example is a web analytics company.
The 42px font size of their headline worked well on desktop (above left). But, on our iPhones and Androids (above right), the type overwhelms the page--so much so that it allows for only one or two words per line. That makes the headline difficult to read.
This is a case where CSS media queries might be considered as a quick solution. Media queries enable us to offer large-sized fonts to desktop machines and reduced sizes to small screens.
At right is an idea of how that same headline would look if displayed at 30px font size for phones. It's much easier to read and displays more content 'above the fold.'
The second example is a popular lifestyle brand with a fun layout, beautiful pictures, and intriguing headlines. It illustrates a different responsive design challenge.
We first visited this site on a laptop (above left). Responsive design improves the visitor experience on traditional computers too. Notice how the side menu is mostly hidden--requiring that the visitor scroll horizontally to see it.
Ideally, sections on a fully responsive page would resize and realign themselves for different-sized monitors, regardless of the device. That way, all content remains easily visible as visitors scroll.
The phone version of the site (above, on the right) appears to work as intended...a non-stop scroll of beautiful photos with headline captions. To us, however, it seemed unexpected... more like a gallery than a home page.
Contrast that with the Cooking section of the NY Times (shown here). It, too, opens with a couple of large article photos with headlines. But those are immediately followed by a variety of horizontal carousels. These invite the visitor to scroll through sections--such as 'No Cook,' 'Our Best,' 'One-Pan,' etc. To us, this seems to be more engaging and might be worth testing.
Bonus: Why Reducing "Friction" Matters--Especially on Mobile
When we talk about friction in web design, we mean anything that slows down, confuses, or annoys a visitor. And on mobile, even the tiniest hiccup, like unclear navigation, slow loading, or too many steps, can cause someone to abandon your site.
Friction might be a button that's too small to tap easily, an annoying full-screen pop-up, or burying your phone number three clicks deep. It could be text that's difficult to read, a form that asks too much, or a call-to-action that gets lost below the fold.
Visitors on phones are usually on the move, short on time, and task-focused. They want quick answers, clear directions, and low effort. That's why reducing friction is critical. Less friction leads to a better user experience and higher business conversions.
Conclusion
How your website displays on mobile devices creates the first impression of your business for many potential customers.
Chances are, the majority of your visitors are mobile-first, action-driven, and quick to judge. So a website that disappoints them is a likely missed opportunity to earn their business.
By periodically reevaluating your website's design, content, and mobile SEO, you will create a better user experience, win more leads, and complete more sales.
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