How do I make my website work properly on phones?

Short answer · updated 2026-09-30

Use a responsive design that reshapes each page to fit the screen, which is what Google recommends.

The page needs a viewport tag, text you can read without zooming, and buttons big enough for a thumb.
Google now reads the phone version of every site, so phone problems can become search problems.

Check it on a real phone

Then run the page through PageSpeed Insights and read the phone result. Its Lighthouse test flags problems such as a missing viewport tag.
Google’s old Mobile-Friendly Test has been retired.

A responsive layout. One version of each page rearranges itself for the screen. Google calls it the easiest pattern to build and maintain.
A viewport tag in each page’s code. Without it, phones draw the page at desktop width, often about 980 pixels, and shrink it.
Buttons you can hit. Google’s web.dev guidance suggests tap targets of about 48 pixels, spaced about 8 pixels apart.
The accessibility standard WCAG 2.2 sets a minimum of 24 by 24 pixels.
A phone number that dials when tapped, written as a tel: link.
Menus that open with a tap, not only when a mouse hovers.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

StatCounter measured phones at 59% of web page views in Ireland in August 2026. In the UK it was 46%, and in the US 42%.
Your own site’s share may be higher or lower, so check your analytics.

Some older sites were built at a fixed desktop width. They can’t be patched into a phone layout.
That’s one of the signs it’s time for a redesign rather than an update.

Open it on your own phone and try to read a page, tap your number and send the contact form.

Then run it through PageSpeed Insights and read the phone result. Google retired its separate Mobile-Friendly Test.

No. Google recommends a responsive design, one site that reshapes itself for every screen.

An app is a separate product, and it doesn’t replace a website that works on phones.

It can. Since July 2024, Google crawls every site as a phone would.

Google says content that can’t be reached on a mobile device can no longer be indexed.

A new website is €499, with 12 months of hosting and Care included. After that, Care is €20 a month. See prices, or tell us about your site.