It has been more than two years since the number of visits to the web from the mobile devices surpassed those from desktop computers. This has opened a lot of new opportunities for digital marketers all around the world, but not all of them could understand the potential value and necessity of using responsive web design.
Responsive web design has become an answer to UX testing, as one of its main characteristics is to automatically format the website to the desired size. Having a mobile-friendly web design is essential if you’re planning to achieve anything with your site. Even search engines are emphasizing the importance of responsive design when it comes to positioning in the search results. So, it’s evident that having a responsive web design is beneficial to your SEO, and here’s how.
One URL to Rule Them All
One of the most useful features of responsive web design is most definitely the ability to create the transition to it. This way, a site owner can keep the same URL, all the backlinks, and even the authority over it. This means that you don’t have to develop a separate mobile version of your website with building links and all that it includes.
From the SEO standpoint, developing a separate mobile website means you will have to work on optimization campaigns for each website you have. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a bit obsolete, and Google, amongst other search engines, recognizes when your website is mobile or desktop only. This means that desktop-optimized sites won’t appear in searches from mobile devices and vice versa. With that in mind, using responsive web design is the only thing that makes sense, because, with it, you get the best out of both.
Incredibly Low Bounce Rates
It doesn’t matter how beautiful your website looks on a desktop if it’s not optimized for mobile. It may be the best looking site there is, but if there is no mobile friendly version of it, every single visit from a mobile device will be extremely short. It has happened to most of us, you’re browsing the web, and suddenly you’re on a website which you have to zoom in and horizontally move around quite a lot. It gets frustrating very quickly, so it’s perfectly natural that such sites have quite high bounce rates.
Bounce rates are basically a signal to search engines which shows them the satisfaction level for users. When people leave your website after a short time, Google takes it into consideration and drops your search rankings. This leads to less traffic and shortens your reach. With responsive design, there are no such problems. With proper formatting, each user has the same experience, no matter how they reach your website, and it helps you lower the bounce rates significantly. User experience has to be a priority if you’re fighting your bounce rates, and responsive web design should be the best weapon for that fight.
Great Loading Speed
According to Google, the best practice there is for mobile pages is to load in one second, or less. The average loading speed for a mobile page, however, is around 7 seconds. Having a separate mobile website requires from your visitors and users to be redirected to a different URL, and this takes up quite a lot of time. Using responsive web design changes this. As it basically has only one URL to load, and it’s optimized for mobile devices, responsive design can make quite an impact. When Google is stressing the importance of mobile loading speed, the smartest way to boost your website’s reach and position is to listen to them.
Google Encourages Responsive Design
Almost every major digital marketing and SEO company listens to Google. It helps them stay on top of their game, and it helps them understand how to approach their users, clients, and visitors. Knowing that Google is the best and the biggest search engine in the world, it makes sense to follow their instructions, and they are always emphasizing the importance of responsive design.
Responsive design helps Google understand websites in a better fashion. It’s much easier to see the optimal user experience and get all of the necessary data from websites with responsive design. Responsive design also helps Googlebot, as it eases the process of analyzing the content of the website. All of these factors contribute to putting your website higher in the search results, so responsive web design is something that can boost your search engine optimization quite a lot.
Final thoughts
These are just some of the benefits of responsive web design when it comes to SEO. As it improves the UX and helps with better positioning in the search results, it also helps your digital marketers get appropriate data and analyze it in the best possible way. It can help you achieve a lot, so if you haven’t thought about it already, it’s safe to say – now is the time to cross over to the responsive design.
If you are looking to improve the responsiveness of your website and SEO, talk to the company that offers some of the best SEO in Vancouver at Coronation Internet Marketing. We offer a free, no-obligation, consultation. Call today!
