AdSense complaints about my blog. Response to what Kathryn wrote

  • Resolved vichingo

    (@vichingo)


    9 years, 1 month ago

    Kathryn wrote

    «Vichingo – Coraline is a responsive theme. If you make your browser window size smaller you can see the layout change to adjust to the dimensions of the screen.

    However, Google Adsense says it’s no mobile-compatible I don’t know how AdSense determines what sites are “mobile compatible” – you’d need to find out more from them.

    I see that you’re currently running version 1.5 of Coraline, which is the current version. If you let me know specifically what problems you’re having and what version you’re referring to I’ll be glad to help».

    My response

    Thanks, Kathryn. I’m using Coraline version 1.5, and I was convinced my blog had no problem, but Google Adsense, Google Webmaster or Google wherever says it does.

    Specifically, they says: “Google systems have tested 2,380 pages from your site and found that 100% of them have critical mobile usability errors. The errors on these 2,380 pages severely affect how mobile users are able to experience your website. These pages will not be seen as mobile-friendly by Google Search, and will therefore be displayed and ranked appropriately for smartphone users”, and then they suggest I introduce changes like these ones:

    1) Delete the JavaScript which is blocking visualization, and the CSS content in upper half of the page.
    2) Specify browser cache.
    3) Optimize images
    4) Minimize HTML
    5) Minimize CSS
    6) Use fonts than can be read
    7) Apply adequate size to tactile buttons
    8) Configure graphic window

    As I understand that, it’s like rebuilding my theme, something I don’t know how to do. And maybe because I’m not a tech guy, I don’t understand either how those pages could have “critical mobile usability errors” if the theme they are in is responsive.

    So, I have no other option than leave things as they are.

    P.S. I installed the Pilcrow theme, which is responsive and resembles a lot Coraline, I run the mobile-compatible test and the results were the same. So I switched back to Coraline.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)
1 2
  • Moderator Kathryn Presner

    (@zoonini)

    9 years, 1 month ago

    Thanks for starting a new thread, appreciate it!

    And maybe because I’m not a tech guy, I don’t understand either how those pages could have “critical mobile usability errors” if the theme they are in is responsive.

    I wouldn’t worry too, too much. 🙂 Google has its own way of making certain things sound super important and dramatic.

    If you’d like, you can explore ways to address some of the issues they mention, for example using a minification plugin to compress all the code to make it load faster – that would address #4 & #5. As far as image optimization (#3) goes, you could look into an image-compression plugin.

    I’m not sure what they mean by “Use fonts than can be read.” or “Configure graphic window.”

    If you’re interested in learning more about how to interpret Google’s messages and how you might address them on a WordPress site, you might like to do a bit of research in the Google Webmaster Tools help centre and forum:

    https://support.google.com/webmasters/?hl=en#topic=3309469

    https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!categories/webmasters/mobile

    Good luck!

    Thread Starter vichingo

    (@vichingo)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    I have to come back to same subject because I’m really confused now. I use Coraline them in both: my site in https://padronel.wordpress.com/ and my site in padronel.net (WordPress.org).

    According to AdSense –and I already hace mentioned that in this forum–, my site in padronel.net is not mobile responsible, but, for my surprise, same site in https://padronel.wordpress.com/ is fully mobile responsible.

    Is it that Coraline has two different versions? If this is the case, how can I get the one which is https://padronel.wordpress.com/ and is fully mobile responsible?

    Moderator Kathryn Presner

    (@zoonini)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    There’s only one version of Coraline. You’d probably have to dig into the full report to view the details of what Google thinks the mobile issues are. It could have something to do with a plugin you’re running, but without seeing the report it’s just a guess.

    Thread Starter vichingo

    (@vichingo)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    Thanks, Kathryn. According to Google, problems in my blog are:
    1) Text too small to read
    2) Links too close together
    3) Mobile viewport not set

    Regarding plugins, I’m using,
    * Add Meta Tags
    * Akismet
    * Auto Excerpt
    * Google XML Sitemaps
    * Official StatCounter Plugin
    * Responsible (I understand this is Viewport)
    * WP-PostViews
    * WP Super Cache

    To make things worst I’ve just found an invitation to update Coraline from version 1.5. to version 1.5.1, and after the only previous update I received months ago I had a tough time trying to fix what was altered.

    Moderator Kathryn Presner

    (@zoonini)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    To make things worst I’ve just found an invitation to update Coraline from version 1.5. to version 1.5.1,

    Please don’t do this update, there’s a glitch it that will be fixed in the next version.

    I had a tough time trying to fix what was altered.

    Have you been making edits to the theme files directly? I’d strongly recommend you use a child theme, so any changes won’t be overwritten.

    Here are some guides in case you haven’t made one before:

    http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
    http://op111.net/53/
    http://vimeo.com/39023468

    Thanks, Kathryn. According to Google, problems in my blog are:
    1) Text too small to read
    2) Links too close together
    3) Mobile viewport not set

    Not sure why you’d get those errors in the .org version and not the .com version since the theme is identical. You might want to post in one of the Google forums to see if someone can spot the issue.

    Thread Starter vichingo

    (@vichingo)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    Kathryn, the only time I wanted to update Coraline, I tried to use the Child Theme solution and I made a disaster even though I read those guides; HTML is not for me, and I become extremely nervous whenever I have to go inside the WordPress code.

    Fortunately I had made a full site backup and I could ask my host to reinstall that. So, no more Child Themes for me.

    I’ve just put a question in Google mobile forum.

    Moderator Kathryn Presner

    (@zoonini)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    The best way to learn how to make a child theme is on a local or a test install first, so you get it working before it goes on a live site. That goes for making any file changes or updates, actually, not just the theme. 🙂

    If you only need to make CSS tweaks, then a custom CSS plugin is a good route: http://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=custom+css

    Good luck finding the answer to the mobile issue.

    Thread Starter vichingo

    (@vichingo)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    Two facts:

    1) Google continues complaining about my WordPress.org based blog padronel.net, that uses Coraline theme, because, they said, it’s not responsive or mobile friendly.

    2) You said in this forum that Coraline is full responsive, and a good proof of that it’s is that my WordPress.com based blog padronel.wordpress.com, that uses Coraline theme too, can be seen in my smartphone in a mobile version.

    So, I started looking for a possible solution and found the WPtouch plug-in.

    I installed and configured its free version last Saturday and, voilá!, I could see padronel.net in mobile screen in my smartphone, and I announced that good news to my family.

    However, no one of them (my wife, my daughter or my grandsons) can see that in their smartphones and tablets. What they can see is the desktop version of my blog padronel.net, same than couple of friends I asked help to.

    To make things worse, I cannot see now in my smartphone the WordPress.com based blog padronel.wordpress.com, but I could see it before, as mentioned in point 2 above.

    The e-mail accounts linked to these two blogs is not the same than the only e-mail account I have in my smartphone, and the fact that I can see in my smartphone the mobile version of my WordPress.org based blog padronel.net proves —as I can see the situation— that the WPtouch plug-in is doing its job.

    Any explanation for that? I’m really running crazy about.

    Moderator Kathryn Presner

    (@zoonini)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    I think I’ve discovered why the Google Mobile-Friendly Test Tool finds your WordPress.com version fully mobile-compatible while the self-hosted version is not.

    You’ve activated the mobile stylesheet on the WordPress.com version, which serves up a special mobile-friendly theme to mobile viewers. You can learn more about the mobile theme here.

    The tool even shows an image of what the theme looks like: https://cloudup.com/cDC649tWRBp

    You can get the same mobile theme on your self-hosted site through the Jetpack plugin, by activating the Mobile Theme module. http://jetpack.me/support/mobile-theme/ Once you do that, you’ll no longer need WP Touch.

    Thread Starter vichingo

    (@vichingo)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    Thanks a lot, Katryn.

    I did what you said, then I tested my site for Google compatibility and the first result is always “Failed to fetch the requested URL”. If I ask to analyze again immediately, the result is “Awesome! This page is mobile-friendly”.

    So, I’m not 100% sure if this is working fine or not.

    Regarding what people can see in their smartphones, the situation seems to be worse now, because yesterday, while I was still using WPtouch, two out of six people in different countries, plus myself, could see the correct mobile screen, but today is only me.

    Yesterday I suspected it was a problem of the mobile operating system and its version, but today this explanation seems not be valid anymore.

    After installing JetPack I deactivate the WPtouch plugin, but I’d like to uninstall it and have no idea how to do that. In its page they said how to install, but nothing about how to uninstalling it.

    Moderator Kathryn Presner

    (@zoonini)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    Generally just clicking Delete from the Plugins panel should work, but if you have any trouble, you could ask in the WP Touch plugin forum.

    Thread Starter vichingo

    (@vichingo)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    The “Awesome! This page is mobile-friendly” as result of the Google Mobile-friendly Test seems to be partially fake because the image of what my smartphone shows up, an image that Google put below that message, is missing header info.

    Under “Show resources” —something I assume is related to errors found— there is that:

    “A temporary error occurred. 8 resources on this page could not be loaded. The results and screenshot may be incorrect. You may want to try again later.
    • http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/…how_ads.js
    • http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/…ygoogle.js
    • http://stats.wp.com/…-201528.js
    • http://ri.revolvermaps.com/…2nq7ij.png

    The only items I know of is the last two ones: A visit counter by StatCounter, and a JavaScript revolver map of the cities from what my blog has been visited to. And I suppose that at least some problems come from JavaScript, and WordPress.com doesn’t have them because it doesn’t accept JavaScript. I’ve no idea about the other two.

    Googlebot type

    Mobile: XHTML/WML – Complete
    Mobile: Smartphone – Partial
    Mobile: Smartphone – Temporarily unreachable
    Desktop: Complete

    The only problem seems to be in that “I wonder if that “Mobile: Smartphone – Temporarily unreachable”, and I wonder if that is affecting my blog position in Google ranking.

    Moderator Kathryn Presner

    (@zoonini)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    I’d recommend that you ask these sorts of questions in a Google support forum, since they aren’t related to Coraline.

    As I mentioned earlier, here are two resources you can check out to pursue this further if you wish:

    https://support.google.com/webmasters/?hl=en#topic=3309469

    https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!categories/webmasters/mobile

    Best of luck sorting out the issues.

    Thread Starter vichingo

    (@vichingo)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    Thanks, Katryn. You’re right.

    Thread Starter vichingo

    (@vichingo)

    8 years, 9 months ago

    Kathryn, would you explain to me, please, how to start a new topic in this forum? I forgot everything about and my long searches didn’t produce any result. This seems not to be a easy task in some forums.

    Since I updated Coraline I got a problem with some Spanish words and need to correct.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)
1 2
  • The topic ‘AdSense complaints about my blog. Response to what Kathryn wrote’ is closed to new replies.