We are in the era of mobile phones. Almost every person next to you has a mobile device. It may be a smartphone, smart watch, tablet, or iPad among others. With all the mobile devices and the never-ending appetite to go tech, these devices have now become the main focus of search engines and marketers.

Over the last four years, Google indicated that it would divide the search index between Desktop and Mobile with the latter being the primary index. This decision came from the findings over 50% of all searches are done via mobile devices. This made Google make frantic efforts to encourage people to go mobile with their websites. Therefore, what exactly is the difference between the desktop and mobile websites? In this post, we dive deep into the two models and demonstrate why you should go mobile.

What Exactly is a Desktop Website?

This is the common design of websites that people are used to when browsing on computers and laptops. In technical terms, this is a desktop environment that has been embedded in a web browser. Therefore, all applications of that website are accessed on the computer, but everything including the applications, configurations, data, access privileges, and settings reside/operate remotely from the network.

What is a Mobile Website?

This is a site designed to optimize access and use for mobile devices. The main focus in a mobile website is ensuring that the site can render in the limited screen space, smaller memory and lower resolution. Consider a mobile site to be a condensed version of the full desktop site with unique streamlining to make videos, images, and large documents render fast. But this focus is fast changing. Today, some phones are even more advanced than standard computers.

The main differences between mobile and desktop websites

Display and Resolution: User Viewership Experience

The display is perhaps the most notable difference between mobile and desktop websites. Here, the mobile devices have smaller displays compared to the desktops. Physically, the phone has a smaller display of 3-5 inches when measured diagonally. However, some of the latest smartphone models are now coming with up to 12 inches diagonally. In contrast, desktop sites are designed to display in larger screens of about 20-30 diagonal inches. The desktop sites are also designed for optimal screen resolution. However, mobile sites can only handle smaller resolution.

The smaller display and lower resolution in mobile websites mean that one can only view less info at a go. However, modern websites are compensating for this by allowing users to zoom and focus on the targeted item. To ensure that all components are displayed for users to access, some mobile websites push some of the page content below the fold. You will, therefore, be required to keep scrolling to get all the content. However, desktop websites allow users to get full details on the same screen.

Website Menus

Most desktop websites allow rendering of mega menus with all the categories for easy access. The space is ample for viewing and clicking the feature of preference or link. However, the mobile website is different. Unlike a computer cursor, the thumb for clicking icons in mobile sites is relatively big while the screen is limiting. This means most mobile sites only feature single-level menus with slightly larger buttons and vertical alignment.

The Form Fills

Today, a lot of efforts are directed at optimizing website forms for maximum conversions. In a desktop website, the forms are arranged horizontally to ensure that every detail is captured in a single page. However, mobile websites use vertical alignment to ensure that clients can get more fields on every page.

Most desktop websites allow users to use the common keyboard. This makes it easy to see errors and correct them when typing. To compensate for the small screen, mobile browsers are designed to feature predictive texts that suggest words when typing to make creating sentences faster.

Many people are tired of having to follow very many fields when filling forms on a limited mobile display. Unlike the desktop websites that allow people to see bigger fields and fill forms directly, mobile sites condense the entire application into 1-2 fields.

The Final Take

While desktop has been the main design for many years, people’s preference has made the need to have a mobile site very crucial. The main benefits of a mobile website include;

• You have direct access to the target audience all the time (even when they are away from the desktops).
• The website makes it easy for users to access and buy products no matter the time of the day or night.
• Over 50% of the searches are done via mobile phones today. This is a huge potential for your business.

Note that this does not indicate you should not focus on the main desktop site. Rather, you must perfect the mobile desktop site while maintaining a carefully designed mobile website. If you get fixated on the desktop wallet, there is a probability of missing a very big market in your digital marketing campaign. SEO Singapore also looks at one of the factor like loading speed and ensuring that your website is mobile friendly as this will aid in your ranking.