SEO and Responsive Web Designs!!
It is no secret that in the past few years, smart phones have attacked the market with a frenzy that is not only astounding, but also compels to innovate and create. Masses of people are using the internet over mobile phone or tablets. With this, most predominant is the need to adapt to Responsive Websites for better interaction of the user with the website. It is thus significant that website works across multiple platforms. After exploding onto the scene in a blaze of glory in early 2012, responsive web design (or RWD) is now firmly established as the best way to create a website mobile visitors love, and has become the pivot of modern web designing. Though it made a popular entry in the year 2012, its impact is far from diminishing.
What is RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN?
As the name suggests, it RESPONDS. Responds to the need of the user. Irrespective of the devices that are being used, these types of websites have the ability to reformat their content to facilitate uninterrupted browsing by the user. The website continues to display all features and remain user friendly no matter whether it is being viewed on a tablet, a phone. It continues to remain popular in the designing field because it is vastly different from previous mobile solutions of creating a separate mobile site or a dynamically served mobile site.
But beyond all this does RWD increases the possibility of a website succeeding in the SERPs? (SPOILER ALERT!) The answer is a resounding yes!! Here are the reasons WHY?
GOOGLE’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGNS
We are all set out to impress Google now aren’t we? Google suggests Responsive Website Design as the best means to target the mobile users. Not only this, it also recommends mobile-optimized sites when presenting results for searches made on mobile devices. This holds true when mobile users are using their devices to search for local services. There is, however, some debate surrounding the subject of whether a separate mobile website for a single, responsive site is the best route to take.
But speaking majorly from the SEO point of view, adopting a responsive website is the better of all options. Owing to the fact that responsive websites have the same URL and one set of pages and files, it makes it easier for Google to crawl and index content. As opposed to this, separate mobile websites would call for separate URLs and different HTML to their desktop counterparts.
RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGNS HAS ONE WEBSITE, AND THUS ONE URL
Tough building a separate website can have its own benefits. Let’s take an example wherein a website features a lot of content (as in the news sites). In this scenario, the website can seem like an endless ‘scrolling version’ with the users having to ache their fingers browsing through the content. In this situation, a standalone mobile version is a rather good alternative and revising the content to suit mobile browsing can actually result into a healthy option.
As opposed to this, the bigger challenge in this case would be handling the SEO. You will need to build the authority of this site from scratch, and most separate mobile sites do not rank well in search engines, as they are canonicalized to their desktop counterparts. On the other hand, redesigning your website as responsive will enable you to maintain your backlinks, and will mean that you can focus your SEO on one single site. This means all of your links will be directed to one domain (as opposed to one mobile website and one desktop site), giving your responsive website a boost in the SERPs.
Furthermore, if you have a responsive website, you can build social shares for just one URL, and when the site does get shared, wherever the link is viewed – whether on a mobile, tablet, or on desktop – all of the content will be clear and easy to navigate.
Responsive Helps To Tackle a High Bounce Rate
This pretty much means that even if a website is cozy in its ranking position, if it does not respond well to a user who’s using a mobile or a tablet, the bounce rate will be an enormous problem.
Mobile websites can suffer from a high bounce rate if the content they offer is too stripped down, or too dissimilar from the content offered on the desktop site. Google will interpret this high bounce rate as a sign that a website isn’t offering relevant content to users, which is likely to lead to a drop in rankings.
A responsively designed site combats this problem by presenting all of the same content found on the desktop site, but in a functional way. Responsive Web Design means that there is no need to compromise on the content you choose to display. This ensures visitors always receive the information they are looking for – which keeps them on page!
User Experience is Enhanced
It’s rather obvious that the main intent of a website is for users to find, process and forward information or content that is represented on a website. Websites are therefore considered important media of sharing. When it comes to RWD, the designing is done with great attention on user experience thereby making it a huge consideration in the ranking factor. Thus it makes sense that Google is encouraging developers to embrace Responsive Web Design.
If visitors are browsing a site via their mobile or tablet, they should be able to view all of its content as easily as desktop users. Say you spot something on a website whilst browsing on your computer, and want to send it to a friend who will view it on their phone. If the website is responsive, and has been designed well, the content will work just as well on their screen as on yours.
Responsive design helps modern websites appeal to modern users; users who are increasingly likely to traverse the internet using a mobile or tablet device, but who still expect their desktop experience to be as smooth as ever. Going responsive is the most effective way to make the most of mobile and tablet traffic, and to offer visitors the best possible user experience.
Adapted from SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL, Written by Hayley Francis
