The internet is everyone’s shop window, and increasingly people are peering in through the small screens on their phones and tablets. This week Google started reporting in their search results whether sites were mobile-friendly or not. They also provided a tool to check whether sites meet the grade. You may be surprised by the results in the care sector. All four of the UK regulator websites fail the test. Most of the listings sites also fail.
Mobiles are increasingly used for internet access all over the world, and a recent (large) report from the International Telecommunications Union ranked the UK the fifth most tech-savvy country. The Google mobile-friendly test checks for a number of problems, including “Text too small to read” and “Links too close together”. In the table below sites that are deemed mobile friendly get a green tick. Sites that are not up to scratch (in a mobile sense) get a red cross for every failing. Kind of like a CQC inspection!
The results of our research (sorted by mobile-friendliness and importance, measured by Page Rank, with prices including VAT) are as follows:
Site | Enhanced Listing Cost | Importance | Mobile Friendly |
Free | 6 |
| |
Free | 4 |
| |
N/A | 3 |
| |
Compulsory | 6 |
| |
? | 5 |
| |
£192 | 5 |
| |
| Compulsory | 5 |
| |
£120 | 4 |
| |
? | 4 |
| |
? | 4 |
| |
£192 | 3 |
| |
£216 | 3 |
| |
| Compulsory | 3 |
| |
N/A | 5 |
| |
Free | 4 |
| |
£144 | 4 |
| |
? | 3 |
| |
? | 5 |
| |
| Compulsory | 5 | Failed |
So if you are a care provider and you have the time to enhance your listing on any of these sites you might want to consider saving your money.
Full disclosure: Better Care Guide, which appears second top in the table, is published by ReallyCare CIC. Care Opinion, which appears third in the table, have been helpful to ReallyCare CIC. But that isn’t why they are near the top of the table. They are near the top of the table because Google put them there.
While every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of this data there may be some errors - please add a comment if you spot one, and it will be corrected (though no attempt will be made to keep it up to date over time). Likewise if you spot any significant omissions (sites which have ever had a Page Rank of 4 or above should all be included) please add a comment.
