Why You Need a Responsive Website
Who doesn’t have a smartphone or a table these days? The demand for having a responsive site is increasing at a rapid rate. It may be the deciding factors for some potential clients. If SEO is a big component of your digital marketing strategy, and it should be, having a mobile–friendly website is becoming essential. Mobile sales have already overtaken desktop sales, a recent study predicts that mobile internet usage will overtake desktop internet usage soon.
So in turn, it is logical to assume that mobile search will overtake desktop search at some point in the near future as well. Sixty-seven percent of users claim they are more likely to purchase from a mobile-friendly website, companies that rely on SEO are wise to begin making the transition to mobile-friendly websites, and responsive web design. Trying to decide on a responsive website or an entirely seperate mobile site, has been an argument for some time. Both options have pros and cons. If SEO is a factor, here are three reasons why responsive web design is the best option for your mobile SEO strategy.
What Does Google Want?
Google gets more searches than any other search engine, so when Google speaks, search marketers listen. Google has stated that responsive web design is its recommended mobile configuration, and even goes so far as to refer to responsive web design as the industry best practice. This is because responsive design sites have one URL and the same HTML, regardless of device, which makes it easier and more efficient for Google to crawl, index, and organize content. Contrast this with a separate mobile site which has a different URL and different HTML than its desktop counterpart, requiring Google to crawl and index multiple versions of the same site. Additionally, Google prefers responsive web design because content that lives on one website and one URL is much easier for users to share, interact with, and link to than content that lives on a separate mobile site.
One Website with Many Uses
One of the most appealing aspects of responsive web design is that a responsive website can provide a great user-experience across many devices and screen sizes. This is an important characteristic, since it is impossible to anticipate all the devices and screen sizes searchers will use to access your site. A site that works well regardless of these variables will provide a better and more consistent user-experience than a separate mobile site that is designed for a specific device and screen size.
Easy to Manage
Having a separate desktop and mobile site requires having separate SEO campaigns. Managing one site and one SEO campaign is far easier than managing two sites and two SEO campaigns. This is a key advantage a responsive website has over a separate mobile site. Responsive web design is recommended by Google, it allows one website to provide a great user-experience across many devices and screen sizes, and it also makes managing your SEO strategy easier.