How to resolve "Text too small to read" error from Google Search Console's mobile usability report?

Question

What is the meaning of Text too small to read in the mobile usability section of Google search console?

Answer 1

Google's official description is:

"The font size for the page is too small to be legible and would require mobile visitors to “pinch to zoom” in order to read."

This means you should use legible font sizes in order to optimize your text for reading and provide a better user experience when browsing your website on mobile devices.

Answer 2

Have you tried increasing the font size? It may sound daft but normally the obvious is the simple answer.

Most CMS have an easy option to change the font size across the whole website and you can test it to make sure it does not have an adverse effect on larger screens.

The other point that springs to mind is to make sure you don't have any really small text on the page, check your footer for one, but also if the domain has spammy text hidden with really small text size that won't help.

It might help if you could share the text size you are using if none o the above help.

Answer 3

I had the same "text too small to read". My footnote font setting was:

.base {
  font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
  text-align: center;
  font-size: calc(0.6em + 0.4vw);
  text-shadow: 0 0 8px #FFF;
}

I am now trying

.base {
  font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
  text-align: center;
  font-size: calc(0.8em + 0.4vw);
  text-shadow: 0 0 8px #FFF;
}

It will be interesting to see if the increase from calc(0.6em + 0.4vw) to calc(0.8em + 0.4vw) is sufficient to make it acceptable.

Answer 4

I resolved this by making sure Google had spidered my CSS file. Once it did that, the page registered correctly and the error went away.