My website doesn’t work on phones

Short answer: A website that isn’t mobile-friendly shows phones a shrunken desktop page: tiny text, pinch-to-zoom and sideways scrolling. It usually means the site predates responsive design or lacks the viewport setting. Switching to a responsive theme or the builder’s current editor fixes it; very old custom sites are often cheaper to rebuild.

Tiny text, pinching to zoom, sideways scrolling. Most of your visitors are on a phone. Here’s how to check your site and fix it.

How to tell

Open your website on your own phone. If the text is tiny, you have to pinch to zoom, the page scrolls sideways, or buttons are too small to tap, your site isn’t built for phones. It’s showing phones a shrunken copy of the desktop page.

Why it matters

Most people visiting a local business website are on a phone, often standing in a parking lot looking for your number or address. Google also judges sites by their phone version first, so a desktop-only site ranks lower in searches. A site that’s hard to use on a phone loses customers to the competitor whose site isn’t.

Why it happens

Sites built before about 2015 were usually designed for computer screens only. Modern sites are “responsive”: the same site rearranges itself to fit any screen. Older sites also often lack the one line of code (the “viewport” setting) that tells phones to fit the page to the screen.

How to fix it

1. On WordPress, switch to a modern responsive theme. Your pages and posts stay; the design around them changes. Try it on a copy of the site first.
2. On an old site builder (older Wix, Weebly, GoDaddy or Yahoo sites), check whether the builder offers a mobile version or an upgrade to its current, responsive editor.
3. On a very old custom site, a rebuild is often cheaper than patching. A small-business site with a few pages is a modest job today.
4. Check the result on your own phone, and run the free check-up. It looks for the phone setting automatically.

Common questions

How do I check if my website is mobile-friendly?

Open it on your own phone, or run our free check-up, which looks for the phone (viewport) setting and layout problems.

Does a non-mobile site hurt Google rankings?

Yes. Google judges sites by their phone version first.

Do I need a new website to fix it?

Not always: on WordPress a modern responsive theme keeps your content. Sites built before about 2015 are often cheaper to rebuild.

Updated October 17, 2026.