Reports show that marketers still need to optimize their websites for mobile viewers - a mistake that could cost them SEO wins and sales.

If you ask most marketers if​ their websites​ is mobile-friendly, most would say “yes.” Assuming people can search for their companies on smartphones or tablets and pull up a functioning version of the site, it probably seem like you’re working with a mobile-friendly, responsible web page.

MarketingLand​’s Bryson Meuiner suggests the contrary in a recent article. In fact, ​just ​18 percent of the top 10,000 sites actually use responsive design to accommodate mobile users, according to data collected by Akamai in 2014. This leaves 81 percent that do not​ have a responsive design.
18 percent of the top 10,000 sites actually use responsive design to accommodate mobile users
 
Even more alarming, that number decreases to just over 11 percent for the top 100 sites. (The Akamai attributes the drop to larger, more complex sites that would cost more to migrate.)
 
At first glance, these figures might not seem that surprising. Perhaps the majority of webmasters use a different configuration, such as a dedicated mobile site, dynamic serving or mobile apps.
 
What is alarming is that 82 percent of marketers who participated in a Google+ poll claim they’re using responsive design.
 
There is clearly a disconnect between intentions and adoption, and it’s one that marketers can’t afford to make. Brafton recently reported that:
 
  • 60 percent of smartphone owners use their devices to access the internet
  • 34 percent say mobile is the primary way they go online

Brands without well-designed, highly-functioning mobile sites risk making a poor first impression on at least a third of their visitors. Mobile configurations and responsive design SHOULD be baked into your marketing plan for 2015, if your brand hasn’t already made them a priority.

Without proper mobile optimization, all the resource you pour into SEO and creating content for users will go unseen by a large portion of your target audience (especially now that Google is tagging sites as ‘mobile friendly’ directly in results pages).  At the same time, it’s an easy way to get an edge on laggard competitors, and it could help you capture more search traffic and sales from your websites.
 
Lauren Kaye is a Marketing Editor at Brafton Inc. She studied creative and technical writing at Virginia Tech before pursuing the digital frontier and finding content marketing was the best place to put her passions to work. Lauren also writes creative short fiction, hikes in New England and appreciates a good book recommendation.