Today the mobile version is built as responsive design: the same site at the same address adapts its layout to the screen width. That is what Google recommends, and Google indexes and ranks sites by their mobile version. A separate version on a subdomain such as m.site.kz is an outdated approach: it has to be maintained alongside the main site. The price depends on how your current site is built: if the layout can be adapted, it is a fix; if the site is built on a fixed-width template, a new site is the more reliable option. By InterLAB's references, a landing page costs 150,000–250,000 ₸ and a business website 350,000–600,000 ₸, with responsive layout included.
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Why the mobile version matters more than it seems
The main argument is not fashion but how search works. Google states in its documentation that it uses the mobile version of a site, crawled with a smartphone agent, for indexing and ranking. If part of the content is hidden on a phone or the page is hard to use, it affects how the site appears in search — even for people searching from a computer.
Google judges a site by what a phone sees. For search, the mobile version is your website.
The second argument is your own customers. If people arrive through links from Instagram, WhatsApp, 2GIS or maps, they open the site on a phone by definition. How many such visitors you have is best checked in your analytics rather than taken from market averages.
Three ways to build a mobile version
Technically there are three options, and Google describes all of them. It recommends the first one — responsive design — because it is the easiest to implement and maintain.
Responsive design
- How it works
- The same HTML at the same URL; the layout adapts to the screen
- Pros
- One site, one set of texts, one maintenance; Google's recommendation
- Cons
- Every page template needs careful layout work
Dynamic serving
- How it works
- One URL, but the server sends phones different HTML
- Pros
- The phone page can be heavily simplified
- Cons
- Two layouts, harder setup and testing
Separate URLs (m.site.kz)
- How it works
- A separate mobile site on a subdomain
- Pros
- Can be added quickly on top of an old site
- Cons
- Two sites, texts drift apart, search needs links between versions
Signs your mobile version is not working
Open your site on an ordinary phone and walk the customer's path: find a service, see the price, send a request. If at least two of the points below apply, the mobile version needs work:
- You have to pinch-zoom to read the text
- The page slides sideways and a horizontal scroll appears
- Buttons and links are so close together that you tap the wrong one
- The menu does not open or covers half the screen
- The phone number cannot be tapped to call
- The phone field in a form opens a letter keyboard
- Pop-ups cover the content and are hard to close
- The page takes several seconds to load because of heavy images
Speed is easy to check for free in Google's PageSpeed Insights: enter the address and look at the mobile result. The report shows what slows the page down — most often uncompressed images and unnecessary scripts.
Fix the layout or rebuild the site
This is the key question for the budget. The answer depends not on how “old” the site is, but on how it is built and what it runs on.
A fix is enough
- The site runs on a maintained platform that receives updates
- The layout is modern; only some blocks break
- You are happy with the structure and texts
- You hold the access to hosting, domain and code
A new site pays off
- Fixed-width or table-based layout
- A site builder or theme without responsive support
- Design and texts need to change anyway
- The platform has not been updated for a long time
What drives the price
A mobile version is priced not by the number of pages but by the number of distinct templates: home page, service page, catalog, product page, article. Twenty similar service pages are one template. Complex elements — tables, calculators, catalog filters — also matter, as does the number of forms and integrations that must be checked on a phone.
Landing page
- Timeline
- 2–4 weeks
- Price reference
- 150,000–250,000 ₸
Business website, 4–7 pages
- Timeline
- 1–2 months
- Price reference
- 350,000–600,000 ₸
Catalog or online store
- Timeline
- 2–3 months
- Price reference
- 600,000–1,200,000 ₸
There is no honest single price for a fix: one site needs three blocks corrected, another needs every template rebuilt. The right order is a review and a list of issues first, then an estimate for each.
What to check at acceptance
Real phones
Open the site on an iPhone and on Android, including a narrow screen of about 360 pixels. Browser emulation does not replace a real phone.
Customer path
Go from the entry page to a request: find a service, the price, contacts, message on WhatsApp or submit the form.
Forms and keyboards
A numeric keyboard for phone numbers, one with the @ sign for email. The request must arrive — check with a test submission.
Speed
Run the main pages through PageSpeed Insights in mobile mode and compare with the results before the work.
Same content
Everything important on desktop should be on mobile too: Google recommends keeping the content of both versions the same.
