How to know if your site is mobile compliant and what to do about it if not.

From : http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2398591/-mobilegeddon-is-coming-on-april-21-are-you-ready :
“Few things get a webmaster’s attention quite like waking up to a Twitter feed filled with news about a major algorithm update. In the world of SEO, hummingbirds, pandas, and penguins are akin to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Most algorithm updates come with vague or no warning, but Google recently announced, “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.”

There are three methods to making your site mobile friendly:

1. Responsive – This is the preferred method for several reasons: 1. your site is literally the same code across all platforms which eliminates the risk of duplicate content penalties. The other methods technically make copies of your site and if handled improperly Google may see your mobile site as being a separate and duplicate of your desktop site. 2. Responsive design ensures your site looks good on all screen sizes. Since phones and tablets don’t all conform to a single screen size or resolution, your site may look good on one phone but not another. Responsive design applies the same code across all browsers and devices which makes it pretty much full (or fool) proof.
2. Dynamic Serving – Based on what the server knows about a user’s browser, this option will show a different version of the site (with different HTML) to the visitor while keeping the same URL structure. This works in most cases, but if your phone or tablet is using a lesser known browser (which often comes standard on some brands), the user’s device may not understand that it needs to display the mobile version.
3. Separate URLs – Lastly, having separate URLs means having one for mobile and one for desktop browsers. This method detects when a user visits from a mobile device and will direct that user to the mobile-specific website. This method has a higher risk of being seen as two duplicate websites since you’ll end up with a www.yoursite.com and a mobile.yoursite.com that display the same content.

How you can tell if your site is mobile friendly?

In short: Go here https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ and paste a few urls from your site in the box. Google will tell you in a few seconds if your site passes or not. It’s important to test several pages because elements like photos and video on specific pages may alter the mobile layout.

Every website we build is responsive, although it’s not necessary to have a responsive design to become mobile compliant. Responsive design solves several design and SEO issues and saves time and money in the near and long term which is why we recommend it. However, Google understands there are older sites that can’t be made responsive without a complete redesign which is why we also offer the other mobile-friendly options to people who prefer to keep their current website.

Send a message through our contact form or call us at 214-506-3471 for a free site evaluation and recommendations.