How can I fix my website Mobile Usability issues in Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a free service that helps you manage your website’s presence in Google search results. It’s also a really good tool for keeping track of the mobile responsiveness of your site.
So what do you do when you get an email from Google Search Console saying Mobile Usability issues have been detected on your website?
This is a somewhat common email you may get since Google is monitoring for websites that are designed to function for mobile devices and will report any errors that may cause a disruption for visitors on your site. However, in researching more about this, I found that it’s possible these issues are found by Google before a mobile site is done rendering, or loading. So it can essentially also just be a bug with Google.
Some of the issues that are noted are:
▪︎ Text too small to read
▪︎ Clickable elements too close together
▪︎ Content wider than screen
These are usually really easy fixes that can be solved with the click of a couple buttons. The email you got will include a recommendation that you fix the issues “to enable the best experience and coverage in Google Search.”
To get started, click the big blue button in the email …
FIX MOBILE USABILITY ISSUES
This will open up your Google Search Console. The following steps will walk you through what to do next.
If you are not already logged into your Google Search Console account, you will need to do so.
Scroll down to the “Why pages aren’t usable on mobile” section and click on the issue.
For example, “Text too small to read”
NOTE: You will need to repeat these steps for each issue listed.On the page for the issue detected, there will be a “Validate Fix” button.
Click the button.Google will begin validating the issue.
Once validation has begun, Google you will let you know and then send you another email when the issue is successfully fixed, usually within a couple days.
This typically fixes the issue until Google finds them again. Since it does just seem like Google likes to keep in touch, you’ll probably get the error email again, but then you just repeat the process.
Occasionally the validation will fail. If this happens, repeat the steps above again for the issue that didn’t validate. This seems to also be a bug and the fix is usually resolved then the second time around.
To see if your website is performing as it should, test it out using Google Search Console's Mobile-Friendly Test.
