Responsive Web Design

mobile-responsive-websiteWith every new Apple or Samsung release, smart devices are getting more & more popular. These handheld computers can do just about everything a PC can do, but with a much smaller screen. Because of this, unresponsive websites look a little wonky when loaded up on various devices, making them much harder to use effectively. This is where responsive web design comes in.

Responsive web design involves building a website that responds to the environment it is being accessed in. Different devices have their own screen sizes and orientations, making it important that your website fits all of them while still looking great & working correctly. An estimated 80% of internet users own a smartphone (Smart Insights), and an estimated 51% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices (Statista), so if your website isn’t responsive, you risk losing more than 50% of potential users.

Better for SEO

Not only does an unresponsive website hurt the user experience once they reach your site, it also hurts the chances of them getting there in the first place. Google has made it exceptionally clear that responsive web design is one of the very best ways to rank well.

Here are some ways responsive design helps your Search Engine Optimization:

  • Improves Load Speed – Google values the user experience above all else, and if your website loads quickly, users are more likely to have a better experience. Responsive web design leads to mobile friendliness, allowing the pages to load the mobile-friendly layout more quickly than attempting to put everything from the desktop layout on the screen at once.

 

  • Improves Time On Site & Lowers Bounce Rate – If you visit a website on your phone and you’re greeted with a small-text, zoomed out version of a desktop site, chances are that you’re going to move on rather than pinching the screen to zoom to what you want. This leads to a very high bounce rate & low time on site rating. These indicators tell Google that your website isn’t providing value to visitors, and can hurt your ranking.

 

  • Receives Better Ranking for Mobile Searches – After Google announced mobile-first indexing, they made it clear that mobile-friendly websites are the future. Despite denying a direct effect on rankings overall, they stated that responsive/mobile-friendly websites will “perform better” in searches from a mobile device. With more than half of the traffic & searches online coming from mobile devices, this can seriously help your site ranking.

 

Whether you ask Google, a web designer, or your customers, you’ll most likely be told that a responsive website is the best approach for all parties. From performance improvements to improved SEO to a better user experience, the positives of mobile web design can’t be overstated.

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