Why Responsive Web Design is good for SEO?

Knowing how important responsive design is for websites, it is quite worrying to know that more than 60% of sites don’t make use of it. If you are one of these website owners, then you fall into the category of two-thirds of sites that are doing their business no favours.

But how do you rectify this?

It’s very easy – simply find an SEO website design company who can make your website responsive. At the same time, they will take care of your search engine optimization strategy and improve your SERPS (search engine results pages)

It’s all about getting ahead of the crowd and getting to the Number 1 spot on Google before your competitors do.

Here are just some of the reasons why responsive web design is good for SEO.

• Your website will accommodate multiple devices. This means that when users view via different devices, your website will adjust automatically. Even when they switch between mobile, tablet and desktop, your website will look exactly the same. They won’t have the hassle of having to zoom in and out and will have precisely the same viewing experience. At the same time, search engines can easily crawl and index your site, so everyone is happy. If your site isn’t responsive, search engines like Google have to crawl and index many versions of your site to see how it functions on different devices. This automatically pushes your rating down with the search engine, thus keeping you away from the number one spot.
• Responsive websites get boosted. Google will actually give your website a ranking boost if it is mobile friendly i.e. responsive. They decided to do this once they realised that more than 60% of searches are now made from mobiles, such as smartphones. With this search rate expected to grow, it is essential that your website is responsive to mobiles if you want your SERPS to improve.
• Your website speed will increase. Viewers of your site don’t want to wait for it to load. If it isn’t viewable within just a few seconds, they are likely to go elsewhere. Then you have a real problem. This is particularly important for clients that view your website whilst on the move, from a mobile. After all, with so many websites available that load instantly, if yours is one that doesn’t, they are not going to wait around. Not only will you lose them now but they will also make a mental note not to return to your site in the future, given their bad online experience. By making your website responsive, the loading speed will be fast for all devices.
• Your bounce rate will remain low. Have you ever clicked on a website and then clicked off more or less immediately? When visitors to your site do the same, this is referred to as your ‘bounce rate’. Google is constantly crawling websites to monitor bounce rates, adjusting your SEO ranking accordingly i.e. downwards. If your site is not responsive, then your bounce rates are surely going to rise. If this is you, find a good website designer quickly that can make your site responsive. This way, visitors to your website will stick with you.
• Vastly improved user experience. When your users have a great experience, your SEO rankings improve. They need to find their way around the site easily and find exactly what they are looking for, whether it is a specific page or a product/service. When they enjoy their time spent on your site, they are going to stay there longer. After all, why leave when you are having fun?
• Cost-effectiveness is achieved. You should not need to spend money on PPC ads or expensive digital marketing if you site is fully responsive. This is a much more cost-effective way of boosting your SERPS rankings.
• Your back-links get boosted. Think of link-building as the bricks and mortar of your SEO strategy. The more credible and authoritative the websites that are back-linking to your website, the better for your business. Focus on quality over quantity and you are on the right track. Google takes note of back-links, regarding them as proof that you are looking after your site users and providing them with high-quality content. Because of this, your ranking in Google will be boosted.
• Duplicate content must go. Don’t think that you can save time and money by using the same content across different sites. If you have several websites, each one needs a variation of content. Google does not look favourably upon duplicate or copied content. However, if you have more than one domain, keep your contact details the same across all platforms.
• Get more shares on social media. How good will it be for your business when mobile users begin sharing your content across various social media sites? Sound good? If you want to go viral your content has to be highly consumable across mobiles. With 80% of social media activity taking place across mobile devices, if your website is not responsive, you are going to lose out on so many SEO benefits.
• Take note of Google’s algorithms. Google has 85% share of the market when it comes to search engines, so upset them at your peril. Given that Google boosts your site according to how responsive it is, making use of responsive web design becomes a must-do.

Responsive web design and SEO benefits

As can be seen, the SEO benefits of making your website responsive are huge. If you want your business to succeed, you really cannot afford to not have a responsive company website. As it boosts your Google rankings, more customers come your way.

Google is built for users, not for website owners. Because more and more people want to access the internet via a mobile device, Google acts on their behalf. If your website is not user friendly then Google will reprimand you accordingly.

Upgrading to a mobile responsive website is really a no-decision-decision. By planning ahead, you are ensuring that your responsive design will result in a much more welcoming website for everyone that wants to use it.

When working with a web designer, make their job easier by mapping out your SEO strategy and laying out the overall vision of the website before he starts to build it, making it responsive.

By putting time aside to pre-plan, you will develop a clear picture in your head of where you want your business – and therefore your website – to be.

This can then be put to good use when you carry out keyword research for your mobile content strategy.

Keep your eye on the ball.

Focus on what type of customers you want to reach and what you want to tell them. This will then form the groundwork for your responsive web design, resulting in a powerful SEO strategy that will carry your business forward.