With the increasing mobile internet usability and accessibility, websites are now gearing up to meet the latest requirements of users. With responsive web design, the goal is to provide a relevant and smooth user experience which will, in turn, make websites rank higher in search engines. If you still have not converted your website with responsive web design, here are some reasons why you need to consider it immediately.
Let us explore some of the many reasons why responsive web designing is necessary for SEO.
Improved Site Usability
Any user on a mobile device is quite impatient. Though desktop users may have the same expectations, mobile users are certainly looking for quick and easy solutions. According to Google, at least 53% of mobile users tend to bounce off from a page that takes time to load - even 4 seconds is too late.
It is a competitive industry and if you have a quick-loading website, you are certainly going to have the upper hand. Responsive web designing is effective in optimizing websites for mobile search, improving the functionality of the site and its design, which then helps in improving user experience. Google aims to serve users with results that are most relevant. Hence, it will be in favour of and will promote websites that provide a good user experience in terms of functionality, design, and content across different devices.
One needs to note that a drop in web traffic may also lead to a drop in sales. Besides, if a visitor chances upon an unresponsive website, it can be assumed that the website has already lost a potential customer.
Page Load Time
When ranking websites, Google considers page loading time quite seriously. The faster a page loads, the better it is ranked. Thus, for SEO purposes it is necessary to ensure that a page loads faster for the site to climb the ranks faster.
In addition, mobile responsive websites tend to load faster than their desktop counterparts. This means that mobile sites may bring about a better user experience and also helps in boosting rankings. But at the end of the day, it’s quick-loading websites that truly win the heart of Google. So, go for a responsive web design to reduce your website’s loading time.
Reduces Bounce Rate
If a visitor comes to your website, spends minimal time on it, then leaves the website immediately – this is known as the bounce rate. The bounce rate refers to the amount of time spent on the site. Google considers the time of entry and exit of visitors whenever they rank a website. When Google finds that a user visits a website and leaves immediately, it does affect its rankings.
As a result, Google feels that the site is not able to answer the query of the user. Remember that aside from your content, how your website is designed also plays a large role in the stay of your visitor. If you find that your content is high-quality, but the site design is poor, you may have a high bounce rate.
A responsive web design is helpful because it delivers an appealing design and helps keep content organized. It is easy to understand and having a clean page is soothing to the eyes as well.
Reduction in Duplicate Content
Google algorithms are extremely intelligent but still need directions from the user on which website content is important. Those who choose to have a separate mobile site may face difficulties in duplicate content issues. If you use a separate website for your clients, you will need a separate URL as well. It is to be noted here that the content for both mobiles and desktop should be the same though the URLs are different.
Remember, duplicate content is extremely harmful to the rankings of your website. If you do not make it easy for Google to know which content is vital, then Google might have to do it for you. Mobile sites might not rank well, but any mobile responsive website can easily deal with various kinds of duplicate content problems.
Helps in Social Sharing
A responsive website design will help to ensure that social sharing is easy for most users. Social media helps SEO in many ways; though social sharing might not have a big role in rankings, it can definitely help in growing an audience.
If you have a big audience, it implies greater engagement and additional traffic that will lead to a lot more research related to your brand. If this happens, Google will definitely take notice and will be sure to boost your search engine rankings. However, websites that are not mobile-friendly are going to have a tough time convincing other users. Navigation might be awkward since social sharing buttons will be designed for desktop use only.
The Takeaway
These are some of the many reasons why a responsive web design is needed by any website. If you want your website to be seen and if you don’t want visitors to leave as soon as they step foot onto your site, optimize your website and get ahead of your competition. Your business will thank you for it.
