2020 Mobile Trends Report

Executive Summary

If a dental practice wants to attract any measurable number of patients via the Internet in 2020 and beyond, it must have a website that meets Google’s latest standards for mobile design.

Five years ago, less than 25% of all Internet searches were completed on a mobile device. Today, that number is estimated to be 58% and growing rapidly. In recent years, Google has been giving ranking preference to “mobile-friendly” websites. In addition, another major shift in this direction occurred with the release of Google’s January 2017 update, and most recently, their big mobile-first algorithm change in mid-2018 (where they no longer index desktop websites –– only mobile).

Supporting Trends, Facts & Observations

• According to Google, 94% of people now do at least some of their searching for local businesses (including dentists) on their smartphones.
• A report from Hitwise showed that 68% of all health-related Internet searches are completed on mobile devices – way above the overall mobile search average of 58%.
• 20% of mobile searches are voice activated. These searches tend to be “natural language”, longer and almost always in the form of questions. Website content must be structured accordingly.
• More than 85% of all websites now meet Google’s standards for mobile-friendliness. If a website does not meet these standards, it is at a significant disadvantage to 85% of its competitors.
• In 2016 for the first time, total time spent on mobile digital media outranks time spent consuming digital media on desktop devices (51% to 42%).
• Google is moving quickly in the direction of “mobile-first indexing” of the Internet. This only amplifies the importance of the “mobile performance” of a website.
• A recent survey of 150 SEO experts from across the world identified mobile-friendliness as the 2nd most influential domain-based ranking factor (behind only site-wide content).
• Responsive design is Google’s recommended design pattern.
• According to Mind & Metrics, websites that are not mobile-friendly are dropping from page one results. This is because having a mobile-optimized site leads to better user experiences, and not having one pretty much guarantees you will never make it on the first page results.
• BrightEdge tracked 20,000 domains since Google’s first update (2015) giving preference to mobile-friendly websites and is reporting a 21% decrease in the number of domains that are not mobile-friendly on the first three pages of search results.