What replaced Google's Mobile-Friendly Test?

Google recommends Lighthouse, which runs inside Chrome and also powers PageSpeed Insights. It does not give a simple mobile-friendly badge, but it reports performance, accessibility and best-practice problems for the mobile view. Combine it with Chrome DevTools device mode and testing on real phones to get a complete picture.

Does Google still use mobile-friendliness for ranking?

Google indexes the mobile version of your site, so what is missing or broken on phones can affect how you appear in search. Google also uses Core Web Vitals in its ranking systems. However, relevance and helpful content still matter most. A mobile-friendly site mainly protects you from losing visibility and, more importantly, from losing customers who visit.

How do I check my site on different phones without owning them?

Use Chrome DevTools device mode on a computer to preview common screen sizes, and rotate between portrait and landscape. It is a good simulation, but it cannot fully copy real touch behaviour, slower processors or mobile networks, so test on at least one real Android phone and one iPhone if you can borrow them.

What is the viewport tag and do I need it?

The viewport meta tag tells the phone browser to use the screen's width instead of pretending to be a desktop screen. Without it, the page appears shrunk and unreadable. Nearly every modern theme includes it, but older custom sites and some templates miss it, so it is worth checking in your page source.

Are popups bad for mobile SEO?

Google has long warned that popups which cover the main content on mobile make a page less accessible. Legally required notices such as cookie consent are fine if they are reasonably sized. Large newsletter or discount popups that appear on arrival annoy visitors and can hurt both experience and conversions, so use small banners instead.

How big should buttons be on a mobile website?

WCAG 2.2 sets a minimum target size of 24 by 24 CSS pixels, with exceptions, and many design guidelines suggest around 44 to 48 pixels for comfortable tapping. For small businesses, the main call and book buttons should be large, full width on phones and separated from other links.

Can I fix mobile problems myself?

Some fixes are easy, such as compressing images, removing an entry popup or shortening a form. Others, like a missing viewport tag, sideways scrolling or a theme that breaks on small screens, may need a developer. If your theme fights every change, a rebuild may cost less over time than repeated patches.

Speed & Security

Mobile-Friendly Website Test and Fixes: How to Check Your Site on Phones and Fix What Breaks

By ITCM Team · Updated November 2026

To test whether your website is mobile-friendly today, open it on a real phone, then run Lighthouse in Chrome (or PageSpeed Insights) and use Chrome DevTools device mode to check other screen sizes. Google retired its old Mobile-Friendly Test tool and the Search Console Mobile Usability report in December 2023, so those are no longer options. What still matters is that Google indexes the mobile version of your site, and most local customers find you on a phone. This guide shows how to test, the problems we see most often, and how to fix each one.

Key takeaways

Google removed the Mobile-Friendly Test tool and the Mobile Usability report in December 2023 and points people to Lighthouse instead.
Google indexes and ranks sites using the mobile version, so content missing on phones can be missing from search.
The fastest real test is your own phone: try to find your number, tap call, and send the contact form.
Most problems come from a missing viewport tag, tiny text, cramped buttons, sideways scrolling, popups and heavy images.
A visible click-to-call button and a short form usually matter more for leads than a perfect score.
Fix the issues that block a customer first, then improve speed and polish.

Is the Google Mobile-Friendly Test still available?

No. Google announced in 2023 that it would retire the Mobile-Friendly Test tool, the Mobile-Friendly Test API and the Mobile Usability report in Search Console, and confirmed in early December 2023 that they were gone. The old test page now sends people to Lighthouse, which is built into Chrome.

Google said at the time that mobile usability is still part of good page experience, it just no longer provides a pass or fail badge for it. That means you need to test a little differently, and you should be wary of any third-party site that claims to give you an official Google mobile-friendly result.

Why does mobile-friendliness still matter in 2026?

Google finished moving to mobile-first indexing in 2024. In plain terms, Googlebot visits your site as a smartphone and uses that version to index and rank your pages. Google said that from 5 July 2024 sites that do not work on mobile at all could stop being indexed. If your phone layout hides your services, prices or service areas behind tabs that never load, Google may not see them either.

The bigger reason is customers. Someone with a leaking pipe or a cancelled appointment searches on a phone, often in a hurry. If they cannot read your page, find your number or book quickly, they press back and call the next business on the list.

Content: the same text, headings and images on mobile as on desktop.
Contact: phone number, booking and address easy to reach with a thumb.
Speed: the main content appears quickly on a normal mobile connection.
Stability: nothing jumps around while the page loads.

How do I test if my website is mobile-friendly now?

Use three layers of testing. Each one catches different problems, and together they take less than an hour for a typical small-business site.

Real phones: open your site on your own phone and, if possible, an older or cheaper Android phone and an iPhone. Use mobile data, not office Wi-Fi.
Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights: run a mobile report to see performance, accessibility and best-practice issues, plus real-user data when Google has enough of it.
Chrome DevTools device mode: on a computer, press F12, click the phone and tablet icon and switch between screen widths to spot layouts that break at certain sizes.
Our free website health check: a quick scan of speed, security and basic SEO signals that gives you a starting list.
Contrast check: use the accessibility contrast checker for light grey text or buttons that are hard to read outdoors.

What should I check on a real phone?

Automated tools cannot tell you whether a customer can actually do business with you. Spend ten minutes acting like a new customer and note every moment of friction.

Can you read the main text without zooming in?
Does the page fit the screen, or can you scroll sideways?
Can you tap the menu, buttons and links without hitting the wrong one?
Is your phone number visible within one scroll, and does tapping it open the dialer?
Does any popup cover the content, and can you close it easily?
Can you fill in and send the contact or booking form with the phone keyboard?
Do photos load quickly, or do you stare at blank boxes?

What are the most common mobile problems and how do I fix them?

These are the issues we find most often on small-business websites, especially older themes and sites built from page-builder templates. Most fixes are small if the site is well built, and harder if the theme fights you.

Problem	What the customer sees	Fix
Missing viewport tag	A tiny desktop page shrunk onto the phone	Add the meta viewport tag with width=device-width, initial-scale=1 in the page head
Text too small	Has to pinch and zoom to read	Use about 16px body text and comfortable line height; avoid fixed pixel widths on text blocks
Tap targets too close	Taps the wrong link or button	Make buttons larger and space them out; WCAG 2.2 sets a 24 by 24 CSS pixel minimum, and bigger is better
Horizontal scroll	The page slides sideways	Find the wide element (often a table, image or embed) and set max-width: 100% or let it scroll inside its own box
Intrusive popups	A box covers the page on arrival	Remove entry popups on mobile; use a small banner or show offers after interaction
Heavy images	Blank areas and slow loading	Resize and compress images, use WebP or AVIF, and lazy-load images below the first screen
Hidden content	Services missing on phones	Show the same key content on mobile as on desktop; collapse it if needed, but do not remove it

Why is my website slow on mobile?

Phones have less processing power than laptops and often slower connections, so a site that feels fine on office Wi-Fi can drag on mobile. The usual causes are oversized images, too many plugins and scripts, chat widgets, sliders and web fonts that block the first view.

Our guide on how to speed up your website walks through the fixes in order of impact. If you want to understand the scores Google uses for speed and stability, read our explainer on Core Web Vitals for small business.

How should click-to-call and forms work on mobile?

For most local service businesses, the phone call is the main conversion on mobile. Put a tap-to-call link (a tel: link) in the header or a sticky bar, show the number as text too, and test that it opens the dialer on both iPhone and Android.

Forms need extra care on phones. Every extra field is more typing with a thumb. Our guide to contact forms that convert covers this in detail, but the mobile basics are simple.

Keep the form to name, phone or email, and a short message.
Use the right input types so the number keypad appears for phone fields and the email keyboard for email.
Make labels visible above fields instead of placeholder text that disappears.
Make the submit button full width and clearly worded, such as Request a quote.
Show a clear confirmation message after sending, and test that the email actually arrives.

Do builder and WordPress sites have more mobile issues?

Not always, but they often have more moving parts. Many WordPress sites stack a theme, a page builder and several plugins, each adding scripts and styles. Settings for mobile may be hidden in separate tabs, so the desktop looks right while the phone version is broken. Hosted builders are usually responsive by default, but heavy sections, video backgrounds and app add-ons can still slow them down.

Whatever the platform, the test is the same: check on real phones, fix what blocks customers, then work on speed. Our technical SEO checklist covers the related crawl and indexing checks.

How does ITCM handle mobile-friendliness?

We design and test on phones first, because that is where most local customers arrive. Our sites are custom coded rather than built from a stack of plugins, which keeps pages lighter and makes mobile layout problems easier to fix at the source. When we take over an existing site, as in our WordPress recovery work, the cleanup usually includes removing unused plugins, compressing images and fixing layout issues.

We also work demo-first. Through our website and app offer, we build your website and installable app first, you check it on your own phone, and you pay the $150 one-time fee only if you are happy. Anything beyond that offer gets a fixed quote before work begins.

Mobile-friendly checklist

Viewport meta tag present on every page.
Body text readable without zooming.
Buttons and links large enough and spaced apart.
No sideways scrolling on any page.
No popup covering content on arrival.
Tap-to-call works from the first screen.
Contact and booking forms short and tested on a phone.
Images resized and compressed; page loads quickly on mobile data.
Same key content on mobile and desktop.
Re-test after every theme, plugin or design change.

Frequently asked questions

What replaced Google's Mobile-Friendly Test?: Google recommends Lighthouse, which runs inside Chrome and also powers PageSpeed Insights. It does not give a simple mobile-friendly badge, but it reports performance, accessibility and best-practice problems for the mobile view. Combine it with Chrome DevTools device mode and testing on real phones to get a complete picture.
Does Google still use mobile-friendliness for ranking?: Google indexes the mobile version of your site, so what is missing or broken on phones can affect how you appear in search. Google also uses Core Web Vitals in its ranking systems. However, relevance and helpful content still matter most. A mobile-friendly site mainly protects you from losing visibility and, more importantly, from losing customers who visit.
How do I check my site on different phones without owning them?: Use Chrome DevTools device mode on a computer to preview common screen sizes, and rotate between portrait and landscape. It is a good simulation, but it cannot fully copy real touch behaviour, slower processors or mobile networks, so test on at least one real Android phone and one iPhone if you can borrow them.
What is the viewport tag and do I need it?: The viewport meta tag tells the phone browser to use the screen's width instead of pretending to be a desktop screen. Without it, the page appears shrunk and unreadable. Nearly every modern theme includes it, but older custom sites and some templates miss it, so it is worth checking in your page source.
Are popups bad for mobile SEO?: Google has long warned that popups which cover the main content on mobile make a page less accessible. Legally required notices such as cookie consent are fine if they are reasonably sized. Large newsletter or discount popups that appear on arrival annoy visitors and can hurt both experience and conversions, so use small banners instead.
How big should buttons be on a mobile website?: WCAG 2.2 sets a minimum target size of 24 by 24 CSS pixels, with exceptions, and many design guidelines suggest around 44 to 48 pixels for comfortable tapping. For small businesses, the main call and book buttons should be large, full width on phones and separated from other links.
Can I fix mobile problems myself?: Some fixes are easy, such as compressing images, removing an entry popup or shortening a form. Others, like a missing viewport tag, sideways scrolling or a theme that breaks on small screens, may need a developer. If your theme fights every change, a rebuild may cost less over time than repeated patches.

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