If you run a small business in Exeter and haven’t checked how your website looks on a phone lately, now’s the time. Google reads every website the way a phone does. Since 5 July 2024 it has crawled and indexed sites only with its smartphone crawler, so a site that cannot be loaded on a phone cannot be indexed at all. A site that loads but is awkward to use is still indexed, but it starts at a disadvantage and loses the visitors it does get.
It’s a bigger deal than it sounds. A surprising number of UK business websites, particularly in trades, manufacturing, and professional services, are still built primarily for desktop screens, with mobile versions that are cramped, slow, or missing key information like contact details and opening hours. Most of us now search for local businesses on our phones while we’re out and about, so a site that doesn’t work well on mobile isn’t just a technical footnote, it’s turning away real customers before they ever pick up the phone.
There’s more going on behind the scenes too. Google’s search results are increasingly shaped by AI Overviews, which now pull in live content and images directly into the answers people see before they even click through to a website. Being properly indexed and structured matters more than ever if you want your business to be part of that conversation, rather than invisible to it.
The good news is that fixing this doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch. Often it’s a case of auditing what’s already there, making sure the mobile version genuinely works rather than just technically loads, and checking the essentials like page speed, clear navigation, and up-to-date contact information.
If you’re not sure where your Exeter business website stands, it’s worth having someone take a proper look before it costs you enquiries. Website Design Exeter offers straightforward, jargon-free SEO and web design help for local businesses. Get in touch and we will take a look.
Updated 3 October 2026: the opening paragraph was corrected. An earlier version gave the wrong date and overstated the rule.