Google Mobile Friendly Test Errors

If you want to see how Google views your website from a mobile friendly point of view use their mobile test tool. If it returns Google mobile friendly test errors, typically they can be fixed fairly easiliy. These are the errors the mobile test may return. The test is really quite simple and focuses on a handful of errors that relate to user experience on mobile devices

Uses incompatible plugins

Many years ago, in a galaxy far far away, websites used Flash. At the time of its widespread use, it was the cat’s meow. Flashing CTA’s, flashing icons, flashing lights and more flashing lights.

Flashing was everywhere, it got out of hand and thinking back, it was quite annoying. That said, I am guilty of using it on my own websites but in moderation.

These days it is rare you will come across its use and not necessarily because it annoyed users. The birth of mobile devices and the bandwidth they use played a large role.

Flash simply uses too many resources and too much bandwidth. For that reason, it is not supported by mobile browsers. If you receive this error, it is your website is still using Flash.

Viewport not set

If you get this error, it means that the view port is not set in the html of your website. Essential the viewport is just another word for screen.

The viewport needs to be set on search individual page, so the page fits mobile screens correctly. You can do this by adding atag with the name “viewport.”

As of 2021 this is the most popular way to use the tag:

This sets the viewport for mobile devices. tells the browser to disable zooming on mobile devices.

You will get this error when your content is outside the viewable area on mobile devices. It is viewable but the user must scroll horizontally to view it.

This can occur when absolute values are used in CSS, or the size of an image has not been optimized for mobile. To fix this error use relative width and position, in your CSS and optimize your images.

If that does not fix things and your entire page is wider than the screen you can try using overflow-x in your code and assign it the hidden value: Body {overflow-x: hidden;}

Text too small to read

This error explains itself. The text is too small to read on mobile devices. You may be able to read it, but it is too small from a user experience perspective.

The problem when this error is returned is Google does not tell you which text is too small. They only let you know there is text that is too small on the URL you are testing.

This error will be triggered when Google finds font-sizes under 12px. If you cannot figure out what text triggered the error, and your font-size looks good on the page.

Look in your nav and footer. Many times, this error is returned when small text is found in the footer and sometimes you want it small like a copyright notice.

Clickable elements too close together

This relates to mobile tap targets. Tap targets are anything a user clicks on to navigate your site. Links in your menu, call to action buttons and other buttons and links such as social media links.

They need to be spaced correctly so users do not accidentally tap the wrong target. The minimum space between tap targets is 8px.

The Short and Skinney

The list of Google mobile friendly test errors that can be returned is small. FOr the most part they can be easily fixed especially in WordPress, for the most part.