Is your website mobile friendly? A 5-minute check for trades

Most of UK adults’ time online is spent on a smartphone, according to Ofcom’s Online Nation report (December 2025). If your website is awkward on a phone, that is where most customers will notice.

All you need is your own phone and about five minutes. If you can, switch Wi-Fi off first, so you see the site the way a customer out and about does. Search Google for your trade and town, tap your own website and work through the seven checks below. Make a note of each one that fails.

1. Can you call in one tap?

Look at the top of the first screen. Your phone number should be there, and tapping it should bring up the call. If the number is plain text that does nothing when tapped, or it is only on the contact page, there is one more step between a customer and your phone.

Now scroll down. Does a call button stay in reach? It saves a customer scrolling back up to find your number.

2. Does it load quickly?

Tap your site from the Google results and count. Google’s Core Web Vitals target is for the largest item on the page, such as the main photo, to show within 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load. Counting is only a rough guide, so for a proper reading type your address into PageSpeed Insights and read the mobile results. If it reports problems, send it to whoever looks after your site and ask whether the photos are bigger than they need to be.

3. Can you read it without zooming?

Hold the phone the way you normally do. You should be able to read the text without pinching, and never have to slide the page sideways to see the rest. Buttons and links should be big enough for a thumb: Google’s guidance on tap targets suggests around 48 pixels, roughly the size of a fingertip, with space between them. If you keep tapping the wrong thing, so will a customer.

4. Are your services and area clear?

Look at the first screen only, without scrolling. A stranger should be able to tell your trade and the area you cover. “Welcome to our website” fails; “Plumbing and heating in Hemel Hempstead” passes. Then open the menu. Can you find your services and the towns you cover in a tap or two?

5. Can you see your reviews?

97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses (BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, February 2026, 1,002 US adults), so check that your star rating and a few recent reviews show on the phone without a long scroll.

6. Does the contact form work on a phone?

Fill it in yourself, start to finish. Is it short? Does the right keyboard come up for the phone number? Is the Send button easy to tap, and does a clear thank-you message appear? Then check the enquiry really reaches you, by email or text. A form that quietly fails loses you work without telling you.

7. Does a pop-up get in the way?

Cookie notices, chat boxes and special offers can cover the very button you want people to press. Reload your site and look at the first screen with the notice showing. Can you still see the call button, and can you close the notice easily? Google’s own guidance for websites says not to cover the entire page with a pop-up.

What to fix first

• The call button. A tap-to-call number at the top, kept in reach as people scroll.
• Slow pages. Run PageSpeed Insights and pass the report to whoever looks after your site.
• Reviews. Move your rating and a few recent reviews nearer the top.
• The form. Shorten it, then send yourself a test enquiry to be sure it arrives.
• Pop-ups. Make sure none covers the call button.

What we saw locally

When we looked at the home pages of 111 trade websites in Hemel Hempstead in October 2026, on a phone-sized screen, 12% had a call button that stays on screen as you scroll, 5% showed reviews in the first screen and 2% had a quote form there. That is one town and home pages only, so read it as a local snapshot rather than a national figure, but it shows how few sites get these right.

Want a second pair of eyes?

If several checks failed, a website built for the phone first fixes most of them together: your number one tap away on every page, quick pages, your reviews showing and a short enquiry form. Or start with our free assessment: we look at your current website, if you have one, alongside your Google presence, and tell you plainly what would make the biggest difference first.