smartphone reduces site size so it can be seen ok

13 years ago

Yes, I've noticed on Google that when I do searches on my smartphone, there will be sites that aren't full-on mobile sites that show up in the results. I imagine this is constantly changing though because everything is moving so quick in Mobile.

My guess is that it is going to be standard that new (large-scale) websites will be built in HTML5 and there will be separate looks for mobile, iPad/tablet, desktop, etc... but we are just starting to see this happen, so in the meantime Google would rather just give relevant search results and not completely limit sites because they aren't mobile. As for giving preference to mobile sites in the rankings, my guess is that they will start to do this more and more.

-Ben

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Jay Moreno

13 years ago

Currently google does not consider sites to be mobile unless they validate to XHTML MP - i think this is stupid as a lot of people spend time and money optimizing their sites for mobile.

Google Mobile Search for smartphones does not distinguish mobile sites however Google Mobile Search for non smartphones does.

The way Google Mobile Search for non smartphone highlights a valid mobile website is by placing a green mobile phone icon next to the listing. Point to note non of the mobile searches show only mobile optimized sites.

I have done extensive research on this - theres a huge 30 page thread here on WF that i discuss in more detail about this very subject - but cant seem to find it? hope hasnt been deleted!

cheers

jay

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MaxReferrals

13 years ago

Jay's right.

Basically, it's Google /m

I'm questioning, however, WHAT it really tells you. Sure, there's a green mobile
phone icon, but other than that not really finding any value in it.

And I'm not sure it even works correctly. For example, I just searched several sites that ARE MOBILE enabled, and Google.com/m doesn't even list them.

These are major brand names, also.

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Jay Moreno

13 years ago

they may be mobile enabled but just dont validate correctly hence don't get the icon next to them

most mobile sites i see dont validate - its not to say they wont display or function properly just they wont get that green icon next to them

since it doesn't affect your serp position its debatable whether or not its necessary... i personally think if it does validate the chances are its going to work on a much more wide variety of mobile devices

i think it would be good if google did identify mobile optimized sites though thats for sure and not ones that are just xhtml mp valid

additionally since the icon doesn't show up in the smartphone google mobile search anyway - its kinda redundant...

Originally Posted by MaxReferrals

Jay's right.

Basically, it's Google /m

I'm questioning, however, WHAT it really tells you. Sure, there's a green mobile
phone icon, but other than that not really finding any value in it.

And I'm not sure it even works correctly. For example, I just searched several sites that ARE MOBILE enabled, and Google.com/m doesn't even list them.

These are major brand names, also.

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mjbmedia

13 years ago

Some great replies thankyou.

Take for example this site Giovannis Restaurant Cardif, Italian Food | Home (I have no affiliation its just the first on my local restaurant search) look at it thru your smartphone and though its not a bona fide mobile site, it automatically resizes to fit into the screen , now is this something that would have been pre planned by the developer or is it just luck that the smartphones manage to do this (granted you have to zoom in manually etc) or is that what is meant by built in HTML5?

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Jay Moreno

13 years ago

Originally Posted by mjbmedia

Some great replies thankyou.

Take for example this site Giovannis Restaurant Cardif, Italian Food | Home (I have no affiliation its just the first on my local restaurant search) look at it thru your smartphone and though its not a bona fide mobile site, it automatically resizes to fit into the screen , now is this something that would have been pre planned by the developer or is it just luck that the smartphones manage to do this (granted you have to zoom in manually etc) or is that what is meant by built in HTML5?

My battery just died on my phone - but if your having to zoom in and pan around the screen to view it, or having difficulty click the links because the links are too tiny to click... its probably not a properly optimized mobile site...

Some peoples definition of a mobile optimized site vary greatly from mine - but for me a properly optimized for mobile web site you will not have to zoom in and zoom out, all the buttons with be sized even for the chunkiest of fingers! lol it will display well across the broadest range of mobile devices including non smartphones, it will be lightweight and you will have easy to access the information you are looking for literally at your fingers tips. If its a mobile site for business you will also have click to call features readily accessible too

hope that helps

thanks

jay

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mjbmedia

13 years ago

Hi Jay, Yes I totally agree with your idea of a mobile optimised site , I have stubby fingers and need those bigger menu options :-)

I was mainly enquiring as to whether these sites that 'fit' the mobile window but are hard to read/use mean theyre written for that purpose (its better to have it all on the screen than have to scroll around) , or is it something that Smartphones do more often than not (resize to fit) or some other technical reason, more so so that when talkign with business owners whose sites are like this on my mobile, I can give a verifiable reason for it and still move on with the sale .

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Quentin

13 years ago

I looked at it on my iphone and it is so small I cannot read it to well and have to scroll and zoom to see anything.

Me personally I would leave this site as soon as I saw this.

Quentin

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Jay Moreno

13 years ago

typically the smart phone will try and resize the site to fit, well its actually the browser that does that - basically it will try and scale the window, however due to the way some sites have been coded typically badly designed sites resizing fails miserably and it wont even scale down properly - hence why you need some kinda of mobile device detection to render the content properly as i mentioned above!

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mjbmedia

13 years ago

Cheers mate, appreciate your time, that I can use in any meeting now.

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Mike

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Joe Coon

13 years ago

I am looking at Giovonnis on my little not smart samsung t401g and it looks good. The only scrolling is up and down and everything is very readable.

I do not see a header graphic but do see a menu graphic just fine. Note that my little phone just ran out of memory while navigating and viewing the site.

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jasonthewebmaster

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by mjbmedia

on the mobile screen the phone reduces some sites so they can be at least viewd on the mobile screen even though its small text etc you can then zoom in on it and read it, its not a mobile site as I know it with clearly readable and tappable icons etc , but (im not tecchie so unsure) is it still a mobile site as in enough there to be listed as a mobile site on search etc

Technically the phone is not changing the site at all.

You are viewing the same site as you would on the web.

The reason it's smaller is because you are using a smaller screen.

You can view almost any site on a mobile phone. The point of having a mobile site is so that you can view it EASILY without ZOOMING in.

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Jay Moreno

13 years ago

Originally Posted by jasonthewebmaster

Technically the phone is not changing the site at all.

You are viewing the same site as you would on the web.

The reason it's smaller is because you are using a smaller screen.

You can view almost any site on a mobile phone. The point of having a mobile site is so that you can view it EASILY without ZOOMING in.

depends what mobile browser you are using - some of them will render the site the same but will scale down the browser viewport to fit the width of the phones display - hence why on some mobile browsers all the sites are scaled to fit the display width... there is no standard width size for websites some are wider than others but they all tend to render them the same width for mobile... but in most instances thats not practical and why we make mobile ready sites...

look at opera mini mobile browser

if you have mobile device thats 128px wide or 240px wide doesnt matter if your website is 1600px wide opera or 800px wide it uses some clever tech to shrink the site down - doesnt change any of the code just shrinks the viewport thats displaying the site hence why you then have to pan and zoom to see anything properly - a lof of mobile browsers do it this way...

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smartphone reduces site size so it can be seen ok

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