{"id":42024,"date":"2014-12-14T16:33:44","date_gmt":"2014-12-14T11:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=42024"},"modified":"2026-10-21T15:23:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T09:53:31","slug":"google-mobile-friendly-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Mobile-Friendly Test Is Gone: How to Test Your Site in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Looking for the <strong>Google Mobile-Friendly Test<\/strong>? Google retired the tool, along with its API and the Mobile Usability report in Search Console, on December 1, 2023. In 2014 we ran QuickOnlineTips through it and proudly shared that our Bootstrap-based responsive design passed. The goal is the same today: your site must work well on phones. Here is what the tool did, why it went away, and how to test mobile-friendliness now.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-67842\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/mobile-friendly-test-2026-1024x538.webp\" alt=\"Colorful smartphones for testing mobile-friendly websites\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/mobile-friendly-test-2026-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/mobile-friendly-test-2026-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/mobile-friendly-test-2026-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/mobile-friendly-test-2026-768x403.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/mobile-friendly-test-2026.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> Google&#8217;s Mobile-Friendly Test was retired on December 1, 2023. To test a site today, run Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools or PageSpeed Insights for mobile performance and best-practice checks, use Chrome&#8217;s device toolbar to preview different screen sizes, open the page on a real phone, and use Search Console&#8217;s URL Inspection tool to see how Googlebot Smartphone renders it. Check that text is readable without zooming, buttons are easy to tap and there is no sideways scrolling.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af3c79775f60\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af3c79775f60\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#What_the_Google_Mobile-Friendly_Test_was\" >What the Google Mobile-Friendly Test was<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#Why_Google_retired_it\" >Why Google retired it<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#How_to_test_mobile-friendliness_in_2026\" >How to test mobile-friendliness in 2026<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#1_Lighthouse_in_Chrome_DevTools\" >1. Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#2_PageSpeed_Insights\" >2. PageSpeed Insights<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#3_Search_Console_URL_Inspection\" >3. Search Console URL Inspection<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#4_Chromes_device_toolbar\" >4. Chrome&#8217;s device toolbar<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#5_Real_phones\" >5. Real phones<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#Mobile-friendly_checklist\" >Mobile-friendly checklist<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#The_evolution_of_mobile_websites\" >The evolution of mobile websites<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#Is_the_Google_Mobile-Friendly_Test_still_available\" >Is the Google Mobile-Friendly Test still available?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#What_replaced_the_Mobile-Friendly_Test\" >What replaced the Mobile-Friendly Test?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#Does_mobile-friendliness_still_matter_for_SEO\" >Does mobile-friendliness still matter for SEO?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2014\/12\/google-mobile-friendly-test\/#How_do_I_know_if_my_site_uses_a_responsive_design\" >How do I know if my site uses a responsive design?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_the_Google_Mobile-Friendly_Test_was\"><\/span>What the Google Mobile-Friendly Test was<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Launched in 2014, the free tool let you enter a URL and get a simple pass or fail: &#8220;Page is mobile-friendly&#8221; or a list of problems such as text too small, clickable elements too close together or content wider than the screen. It became especially important around Google&#8217;s 2015 mobile ranking update, when site owners rushed to make sure their pages passed.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_Google_retired_it\"><\/span>Why Google retired it<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When Google <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-officially-drops-mobile-usability-report-mobile-friendly-test-tool-and-mobile-friendly-test-api-435377\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dropped the tool in December 2023<\/a>, it pointed to Lighthouse and other mature resources for evaluating mobile usability. By then, Google had also moved to mobile-first indexing, which means it primarily uses the mobile version of your pages for indexing and ranking.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_test_mobile-friendliness_in_2026\"><\/span>How to test mobile-friendliness in 2026<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Lighthouse_in_Chrome_DevTools\"><\/span>1. Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Open your page in Chrome, press F12, choose the Lighthouse tab, select Mobile and run an audit. You get scores for performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO, with specific fixes. See Google&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.chrome.com\/docs\/lighthouse\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lighthouse overview<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_PageSpeed_Insights\"><\/span>2. PageSpeed Insights<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pagespeed.web.dev\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PageSpeed Insights<\/a><\/strong> runs Lighthouse online and adds real-user Core Web Vitals data when your site has enough traffic. Check the Mobile tab first.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Search_Console_URL_Inspection\"><\/span>3. Search Console URL Inspection<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Search Console<\/a><\/strong>, inspect a URL and use the live test to see the page as Googlebot Smartphone renders it, including a screenshot and any loading issues.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Chromes_device_toolbar\"><\/span>4. Chrome&#8217;s device toolbar<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In DevTools, click the device icon to preview your page at common phone and tablet sizes and spot layout problems quickly.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Real_phones\"><\/span>5. Real phones<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Nothing beats opening the site on an actual iPhone and Android phone, on mobile data as well as Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Mobile-friendly_checklist\"><\/span>Mobile-friendly checklist<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Responsive design that adapts to every screen width.<\/li>\n<li>A viewport meta tag: <code>&lt;meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width, initial-scale=1\"&gt;<\/code>.<\/li>\n<li>Body text around 16px, readable without zooming.<\/li>\n<li>Buttons and links large enough to tap, with space between them.<\/li>\n<li>No horizontal scrolling; wide tables scroll inside their own box.<\/li>\n<li>Fast loading: compressed images, lazy loading and caching.<\/li>\n<li>No intrusive full-screen pop-ups on mobile.<\/li>\n<li>The same important content on mobile as on desktop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_evolution_of_mobile_websites\"><\/span>The evolution of mobile websites<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As we wrote in 2014, sites first built separate &#8220;m.&#8221; subdomains, then some tried .mobi domains, before responsive design became the standard: one site that works on everything from small phones to giant monitors. We moved QuickOnlineTips to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/responsive-theme-design\/\">responsive theme<\/a> early on, built it on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/07\/twitter-bootstrap\/\">Bootstrap<\/a>, and today run on the Kadence theme. Our 2014 complaint still applies to too many sites: designed for desktop, then left with tiny text, sideways scrolling and broken scripts on phones.<\/p>\n<p>For step-by-step fixes, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/07\/create-free-mobile-site\/\">how to make your site mobile-friendly for free<\/a> and our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2020\/05\/core-web-vitals\/\">Core Web Vitals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_the_Google_Mobile-Friendly_Test_still_available\"><\/span>Is the Google Mobile-Friendly Test still available?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No. Google retired the Mobile-Friendly Test tool, its API and the Search Console Mobile Usability report on December 1, 2023.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_replaced_the_Mobile-Friendly_Test\"><\/span>What replaced the Mobile-Friendly Test?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Google pointed users to Lighthouse. PageSpeed Insights and Search Console&#8217;s URL Inspection tool also help you check how pages work on mobile.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Does_mobile-friendliness_still_matter_for_SEO\"><\/span>Does mobile-friendliness still matter for SEO?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Yes. Google uses mobile-first indexing, so the mobile version of your site is what it mainly crawls and ranks, and mobile visitors leave hard-to-use pages quickly.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_do_I_know_if_my_site_uses_a_responsive_design\"><\/span>How do I know if my site uses a responsive design?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Resize your desktop browser window or use Chrome&#8217;s device toolbar. If the layout rearranges to fit narrow screens without sideways scrolling, it is responsive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking for the Google Mobile-Friendly Test? Google retired the tool, along with its API and the Mobile Usability report in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":67842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67845,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42024\/revisions\/67845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}