george-passes-his-google-mobile-sites-exam2

George Passes his Google Mobile Sites Exam

George has officially become a Google certified mobile site developer!

Google launched a Mobile Sites certification program which offers the opportunity for developers and marketers to show their proficiency in mobile website creation. In order to do so, George needed to pass an exam which tests your expertise in key areas of mobile website development. Once complete, George received his certificate as a listing on his Google Partners profile, showing he had passed the exam.

So what does this mean?

This exam tests knowledge of four key areas for developing mobile sites:

  1. Mobile sites and why they matter
  2. Improving mobile site speed
  3. Creating an effective mobile UX
  4. Advanced web technologies

Each of the modules above show the most important things to consider when developing mobile sites. And although it doesn’t test knowledge on developing for any particular operating system, it does test mobile website expertise in general. It’s certainly an accreditation befitting of anyone who, like George and others here at h2o digital, works with mobile websites in any fashion.

Why do mobile sites matter?

As users spend more time on mobile devices, searching and shopping, it’s important to get your mobile site right if you want to succeed. In a mobile-led world, consumer expectations are high and according to official Google statements, more than 50% of search queries globally now come from mobile devices. This means your consumers are statistically more likely to be on your site using a mobile device than a desktop, so the quality of your mobile site is crucial.

Why is mobile speed important?

A Google poll said that 50% of mobile users said their top frustration when browsing on a mobile was slow loading speed. On top of that, statistically speaking, 60% of mobile users expect pages to load within 3 seconds and on average and 75% of users leave the page if it takes longer than 5 seconds to load. This should demonstrate how important speed is on your mobile site (or any site for that matter). Improving performance is a process that starts with minimising, or at least, optimising the data that users download (more information on this can be found in our blog 5 tips for a Supersonic Speedy Website). For mobile especially, it comes down to how much value is in the resource that needs to be downloaded. Once you’ve looked at these factors, you have the best chance of having a faster mobile site.

Why UX is important for mobile

As a general rule of thumb, good UX (user experience) increases conversions. This is the same for mobile and with more than 50% of search queries globally now come from mobile devices, it’s even more important to get it right. The best ways to do this on mobile are to make sure call to actions (CTAs) are in the most prominent space, keep menus short and sweet, make it easy to back to the home page (usually through the logo at the top of the page) and to make sure promotions don’t take over. UX is key for conversion, so much so that a simple change in colour/wording on a CTA can cause an increase of up to 200% in conversions. Your UX needs to be right.

Advanced web technologies

Advanced web technologies when it comes to mobile sites include AMP (accelerated mobile pages) and PWA (progressive web apps). AMP is a way to build web pages for static content that render fast. It does this by prioritising resource loading and loads pages in an instant. This means that speed increases on load time which will help with conversions and lower bounce rates. PWA work reliably, no matter what the network connection is like. They are reliable, fast and engaging and essentially create a user experience that takes speed and reliability into account, pleasing users and reducing bounce rates.

Summary

All in all, this certification that has been awarded to George shows not only his knowledge of mobile site development and its requirements, but also our ever-growing knowledge and skills here at h2o digital.

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