A 20-minute mobile website check before your next redesign

A website review does not need to begin with a new colour palette or a list of extra pages. Start with a customer task and see what happens on a phone. The exercise below is a practical way to collect useful observations before deciding what to redesign. It is a starting point for discussion, not a promise of improved rankings or enquiries.

Choose one task and a clear finish

Write a simple instruction: find a suitable service and make an enquiry. If you run a shop, try finding one product, checking its delivery information and locating the next purchase step. Choose a task a prospective customer would recognise. Avoid testing everything at once.

Give the instruction to someone who has not helped build the website. Let them explain what they are looking for without coaching them towards a button. Record the places where they pause, make a wrong turn or ask you a question.

Check what the mobile page actually contains

Google says it uses the mobile version of a site's content for indexing and ranking. Its guidance also explains that responsive design can present the same page content in different layouts for different screen sizes. This is a reason to check your mobile content carefully, rather than treating it as a decorative version of the desktop page. 1

Look for service information, important headings and the contact route on both versions. If your site uses separate mobile pages, note missing information for a technical review. This customer task alone does not establish whether Google has indexed your pages.

Look for layout problems, then keep testing the task

Responsive design adapts the layout to the available space. The web.dev guidance recommends flexible layouts and choosing breakpoints around the content's needs. A smaller screen should still have enough room for the information and controls it contains. 2

Try the page in portrait and landscape. Look for text cut off by a card, images covering a heading and buttons squeezed into a narrow row. Record the page and the affected element. Avoid adding a design fix to your notes until you have described the problem clearly.

Follow the enquiry route

Read the button label out loud. Does it explain what happens next? Open the contact form and check whether the requested information makes sense for a first conversation.

For this exercise, inspect the form without sending a live enquiry. If a submission test is needed, arrange a clearly labelled test with the person who receives the messages. Include the confirmation screen and the receiving inbox in that later check; seeing a button change is not the same as confirming delivery.

Make the content do a useful job

Ask the tester to explain your offer in their own words. Which service seems suitable, what would they need to tell you and what happens after they contact you?

If the answers are unclear, consider a content change before commissioning extra pages. A short service explanation, a more specific heading or a clearer next step can be worth testing. These are suggestions to evaluate with your audience, rather than assumptions about what every business needs.

Choose one improvement to review

At the end of twenty minutes, group your observations into content, layout and technical checks. Select one problem that interrupted the chosen task. Describe the current behaviour and the result you want, then ask the designer or developer to propose a suitable change.

Repeat the same task after that change and compare your observations. Keep the original notes so the decision has a clear basis. If you would like help shaping a website or UX/UI design brief, bring this small review to a conversation with TabSphere.

Sources

Checked 9 October 2026., Google Search Central: mobile-first indexing guidance, web.dev: responsive web design basics