Google's 46 Mobile Web Design Principles

Last week we had a really interesting session with one of our clients and a Mobile Specialist at Google’s office in central London. The session analysed the performance of our client’s site on mobile devices.

Mobile traffic for our client accounts for 51% of their total web traffic, so it is vital that their mobile site is as good as possible for the job they want it to do for them – generate leads.

Google presented to us their 46 Mobile Web Design Principles, which I’d like to share with you now:

Mobile Homepage and Site Navigation

1. Make sure mobile users can easily gain access to your site through search.

2. Menus and lists need to be short and have few overlaps on mobile websites.

3. Your logo should be placed at the top of each screen and take the user back to the homepage.

4. Support mobile browsing behaviours by prominently displaying key calls-to-action on the main screen.

5. The primary purpose of your mobile homepage should be to identify users’ needs and guide them to the right place.

6. Watch for blind spots on your mobile homepage.

Mobile Search and Results

7. Mobile retail websites should prominently feature search on their homepages.

8. Non-retail mobile sites should use search to support secondary task flows.

9. The first few search results leave the greatest impression.

10. Don’t leave your users hanging. Provide guidance and help when there are no matching search results.

11. Feature filtering over sorting for large, heterogeneous sets of search results.

12. Make sure the user has accurate expectations about the consequences of applying any filters.

13. A guided approach can act as a proxy or complement for filters.

 Mobile-Optimized Sites vs. Desktop Sites

14. Make sure your entire site is optimized for mobile, rather than a piece at a time.

15. Users should never feel the need to pinch-to-zoom on mobile-optimized sites.

16. Ensure that any image a user might want to enlarge is tappable or expandable.

17. Avoid the “full site” | “mobile site” trap.

18. If you provide users a choice between a desktop and mobile site, make sure they can change their minds.

19. Re-evaluate the key tasks for your mobile users and design for them.

20. If you’re stuck with a desktop site, then prominently display key calls-to-action on the main page.

Form Entry and Text Input

21. Save some effort for your users through default input modes and advancing fields.

22. Use on-screen selection elements for binary (or small number) situations.

23. Visually integrate checkmarks and radio buttons with their corresponding labels to convey larger tap targets to users.

24. The wheel selector is a specialized tool, not a substitute for the dropdown menu.

25. In travel and scheduling tasks, provide a visual calendar to users when selecting dates.

26. Reduce form submission errors through communication and real-time validation.

27. Ensure field labels and the corresponding input boxes are visible at the same time.

28. Make sure it’s possible to complete your forms in landscape orientation.

29. Take advantage of auto-fill whenever possible.

30. Design your task flows and forms efficiently.

31. Progress bars and menus should accurately convey overall progress through multi-step forms and processes.

Registration, Checkout, and Conversion

32. Beware of making enemies at registration gates.

33. Mobile retailers should offer the choice to checkout as a “Guest.”

34. Fully leverage existing user information to streamline forms and processes.

35. Social media login should never be the only option.

36. Up-and-coming sites need to give value in order to get value from new users.

37. Provide tappable buttons to initiate phone calls at potential conversion drop-off points.

38. Seek opportunities to facilitate cross-channel conversion through your mobile website.

Mobile Site Performance and Stability

39. Design your site with the assumption that mobile network speeds will be unstable.

40. QA your mobile website rigorously.

41. Optimize the size and sensitivity of your calls-to-action and be mindful of the order in which screen elements load.

Mobile Miscellania

42. Either design for both screen orientations or encourage users to switch to the optimized orientation.

43. Users should always know what they’re getting when enabling location services.

44. The best way to promote your app is to provide a great mobile web experience.

45. Refresh animations and other visual representations of processing should be used sparingly and only when necessary.

46. Avoid calls-to-action that open new browser windows, as users may have trouble getting back to your site.

Search Evolved with #Hashtags

Searching with Hashtags:

People love a good hashtag; it is used on all the major platforms (Google+, Facebook and Twitter) to allow you to search for conversations and topics you may be interested in. At Space & Time we like to explore the future of search and social media...

PPC Account Audits: Quick tips to improve your PPC Account

The festive season is well and truly over and many New Year’s resolutions have been broken, but your resolution to make your PPC account the best that it can be should still be going strong! It can be a daunting task auditing your PPC account but we have put together a short list of questions to help you look for areas to improve. 

Affinity Segments Targeting on GDN - The Results

In the previous blog post entitled ‘Improved Affinity Segment Targeting on GDN’, we explained that we were going to test the new Affinity Segments by creating two ad groups on the Google Display Network. One ad group would target niche interests using standard interests and the other ad group would be set up using the new Affinity Segments. Both of the ad groups were set to target users with the same interests. We wanted to test whether or not Affinity Segments would increase reach and drive a larger scale of high quality traffic to the website, or if the smaller audience of the more familiar standard interest ad group would provide better results.

Google Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)

Remarketing Lists For Search Ads: 

I recently attended a Google Engage for Agencies session about Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA). Here is a quick overview of what it's all about, how to implement it and most importantly why you would want to.

Here's Google's definition of RLSA:

RLSA helps you optimise your search campaigns by tailoring your ads towards previous website visitors, increasing the chance of serving the right ad to the right user at exactly the right moment. RLSA is the first time you can use your audience data in Google Search campaigns, meaning you can adjust your bids to reconnect and re-engage your most valuable prospects as they continue searching on Google.

AdWords Continuous Improvement

PPC Management: 

Once you start getting into PPC and learning the terminology, like many digital marketeers, you soon discover how amazing it is as a marketing/advertising tool. I studied marketing and psychology at university and many of the principles are extremely effective when approaching AdWords management.

A philosophy that has really stuck with me is Kaizen. This is a practice that focuses upon continuous improvement. This can be very successfully applied to PPC accounts.

Improved Affinity Segments Targeting on GDN

Google Improves Targeting on the Google Display Network with Affinity Segments: 

Google has recently introduced Affinity Segments in AdWords. Using 80 unique lifestyle segments such as Golf Enthusiasts and Avid Investors, advertisers can now more easily reach their target audience online based on their interests.

The new Affinity Segments take into account the kind of pages a user visits, together with how long they spend at the site and how often they visit, relating interest categories with each user’s browser.  Segments look at the user’s lifestyle, rather than just one particular interest, allowing advertisers to target users who are likely to be interested in your brand on a much larger scale.