Increasingly, your customers are not sitting in front of desktops or laptops. Instead, they're on the go, and they're accessing your website from their mobile devices. What does that mean for you? If you don't give customers what they want (easy visibility and navigation so they can browse and shop while mobile), they will go someplace else.

So how do you go about creating a mobile-friendly site? Don't try to simply "tweak" your existing website to try to make it so. Traditional websites don't display well on mobile phones. Mobile phones have smaller displays and will often distort visuals on regular websites. Pare your mobile friendly website down to just essential features, with content that includes links to secondary information pages. You should also enlarge interface elements for easy touch screen navigation.

That doesn't mean you should ignore those customers who still use desktops and laptops, though. They still account for a significant portion of your customer base and new prospects.

It's true, and there's a reason for that. Google recognizes that you don't need a computer to surf the Internet. Many sites, however, still use content, images, and navigation structures that just don't work well on mobile devices. Users can only see those websites properly using a desktop or laptop monitor or screen, and smart phone browsers end up with a very unsatisfying user experience.

Why does that matter to Google? Because if a particular website isn't mobile friendly, Google will recognize that and be less likely to display it as a legitimate search result.

That makes sense, since Google wouldn't be doing its job if half the results displayed were useless to mobile users. Google's goal is to increase search traffic, including mobile search traffic, and you can use that to your benefit by jumping on board.

So when you're asked, "Do I need a mobile friendly website?" answer "yes." It will help your organic search results.