Mobile First is a principle where the UI/UX interface of a website is initially designed for mobile devices and then scaled up for tablet and desktop devices.

In 2023, when the average user spends 7 hours online, with the majority of that time spent on mobile phones, it’s crucial to prioritize the mobile version of your website. The website viewed on a mobile device should be user-friendly, informative, and require minimal time to access the necessary information or make a purchase.

This approach allows for a thorough focus on the usability of the mobile version of the website rather than treating it as an afterthought, as is often the case with the traditional approach where designs start with the desktop version.

DesktopMobile The Mobile First principle of website design

Over 67% of users access the internet from their mobile phones, a significant increase from less than 50% just 5 years ago, and this trend continues to grow.

The graph below presents statistics from the last 5 years:

Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022in exabytes per month The Mobile First principle of website design

Considering this trend, it’s reasonable to assume that the share of mobile traffic will continue to grow significantly.

It’s logical to assume that in the near future, the majority of internet users may never even see the desktop version of certain websites and will exclusively interact with them on their smartphones! Smartphones have become the primary environment for online communication, shopping, and information retrieval, making it more convenient and faster to visit websites on a mobile device than on a laptop or computer. In simple terms, the smartphone has become the natural habitat for online interaction.

This mobile boom is also associated with the increasing popularity of social networks. While 5 years ago, people aged 50+ were not present on Facebook and Instagram (or only a few had their profiles), today, the majority of them have accounts on social networks. The age range of TikTok users is also expanding, whereas just 2 years ago, this social network was mainly perceived as a gathering place for teenagers. Brands’ presence on social networks is increasing the percentage of sales in these networks, providing easy and accessible communication with users.

Therefore, the interface of the mobile version of a website or an online store should be meticulously designed.

As early as 2010, at the World Mobile Congress, Google’s then CEO Eric Schmidt proposed that designers should follow the “Mobile First” rule – designing for mobile devices initially.

This means developing a website’s design for mobile devices first and then scaling it for tablets, laptops, and wide-format displays. Back then, the percentage of using a mobile phone for website viewing and online shopping was negligible.

Additionally, technical aspects need to be considered: form completion, mobile internet speed, to ensure that the user’s interaction with the website is as comfortable as possible. If a mobile site takes longer than 2-3 seconds to load, the user may close the page before it fully loads.

It’s essential to work on the technical side; otherwise, the website owner will lose profit!

What Are the Benefits of Mobile First for Business?

Recommendations, congresses, and conferences are all great, but businesses need practical results, right?

  1. By developing a website interface with this Mobile First principle in mind, sufficient attention will be given to the mobile version. This is crucial given modern trends where a significant portion of traffic is mobile. In other words, most customers will interact with the mobile version of your website.
    tablet The Mobile First principle of website design
    As a result, while competitors focus on embellishing the PC version of their websites, your business will provide its customers with a high-quality and well-thought-out mobile version, setting your business apart from the competition.
  2. SEO promotion and PPC advertising. Naturally, Google’s mobile search results always favor websites that are well-optimized for mobile devices.
    site google The Mobile First principle of website design
    By developing a website based on the Mobile First principle, you can be confident that the mobile version will fully meet the requirements of search engines. This means that in both paid and organic Google search results, your site will always rank higher than your competitors’ sites. This is the work of an SEO specialist who knows how the site should look to ensure successful indexing, what content it should contain, and how to obtain organic traffic in the long term.

For more information on the impact of design on SEO promotion, read this article “Does Design Affect Website SEO Promotion?”

Furthermore, when advertising your website on Facebook and Instagram, the algorithms of these social networks also analyze the website for the quality of its mobile version. All else being equal, they give preference to advertisers with a higher-quality mobile version of their site.

The approach and design principle of Mobile First allow for a more high-quality interface for the mobile version of the site, simultaneously increasing conversion rates due to user convenience and traffic through the privileges offered by advertising platforms.

How to Create a User-Friendly Website Design for Mobile Devices Using Mobile First

After reading the article up to this section, you are likely convinced of the importance of a high-quality mobile version of your site and the validity of the Mobile First principle. Now it’s time to explore recommendations on how to achieve a user-friendly mobile website interface.

site The Mobile First principle of website design

I must say that these recommendations will be general, as depending on the goals and objectives of the site, these recommendations may be refined or sometimes changed.

  1. The mobile version should be tailored to the primary action. If the goal of your site is to attract leads, calls, and inquiries from customers, it’s essential to highlight and emphasize this. For example, this is very well implemented on our site:
    Mobile The Mobile First principle of website design
    In the top fixed panel, there is a phone number that, when clicked, initiates a call. There are also buttons for popular messengers, which, when clicked, open corresponding chats. Making contact information clickable significantly increases the likelihood of contact. It’s recommended to make icons for social networks (Facebook, Instagram) or messengers (Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp) visible while scrolling throughout the page. In other words, no matter what information the user is viewing on the site, they see contact options and can use them at any moment without returning to the top or scrolling down.
  2. The font size (font size) for the mobile version should be 14-18px. This is essential to maximize text readability.
  3. Maps: Instead of loading a vector Google map in contacts, which can slow down loading speed, it’s better to place a link with geolocation that allows users to plot a route to your office through the corresponding smartphone app.
  4. And, of course, in addition to the design of the interface, the mobile version of the site must be technically flawless. Here, it’s essential not to engage in amateurism but to seek the expertise of a specialist who knows how to make the site not just a beautiful online cover for your business but a genuinely effective selling page.
A user-friendly and correct mobile interface is crucial for the high conversion of your site.

To get professional UI/UX design for your website, contact the BUSINESSSITE web studio:

+38 (044) 495-31-30
+38 (096) 400-15-67

Or submit a quick request.


Website design for the mobile version is developed by a team of professionals who not only follow modern trends but also consider the specific needs of your business and analyze data (customer surveys, for example). You can order design for a single-page site, a business card site, or a corporate website with full support: SEO optimization, unique content preparation, content filling with texts and visual elements, setting up contextual/targeted advertising, and more.