This error alert tells the user that a particular URL contains a browser view window tag without the specified initial scale attribute.
What Does “Viewport Tag With No Initial-Scale Attribute” Mean?
The browser viewport is the part of the browser window where the user can view all the web content contained on the site page. It’s worth keeping in mind that the viewing area depends on the device from which the user will view your site pages. Accordingly, the viewing area will be smaller on a smartphone or tablet than on a laptop or PC monitor.
As for the attribute viewport, this element sets the browser-specific instructions for controlling the size and scale of the page.
Read more about using viewport attribute for mobile devices in this article.
What triggers this issue?
The user will be alerted to this issue if any of the internal URLs contain a browsing window tag without an initial scale attribute specified in the instructions.
Crawlers do not consider this a serious bug but alert webmasters that it can cause problems with the site’s accessibility and usability.
How to check the issue?
You may find this issue during a scan by one of the SEO crawlers. At the end of the crawl, you will find an alert with an issue correction in the non-priority issues.
We recommend you watch this introductory video by Matt Cutts from Google to understand the problem in more detail.
Why is this important?
As we mentioned earlier, this issue is not considered critical. Using the initial-scale = 1 tag instructs browsers to set the ratio of CSS pixels to device-independent pixels to 1: 1. The webmaster should enforce these instructions regardless of the device’s orientation from which the user is viewing your site. These instructions will enable the page to take full advantage of the width of the landscape orientation.
Missing the initial scale tag set by the instructions, mobile browsers will display the site page with the width of the desktop screen. It will cause the page to be unreadable, and the browser will try to enhance the appearance of the site’s content while increasing the font size to match the specified screen width.
As a result, the font sizes may not appear to be agreeable with users’ devices. It can lead to incorrect interaction with your site, and users may have to take extra steps to adjust the browser window view format.
How to fix the issue?
Initial-scale exists to adjust the scale when the site page first loads or when the user changes the page’s orientation.
If you want to ensure that the content is displayed at the correct size, you should set the Initial-scale setting to 1.0.
Detect whether viewport tag is missing an initial-scale on your website and go ahead to analyse the other issues on it!
Check not only the issue but make a full audit to find out and fix your technical SEO.
