Whenever you start a blog or website now, you want to make sure that it’s mobile compatible. What is it that makes to do this? Is it just because you don’t want to lose your mobile visitors or because you want to take the advantage of SEO?
Ok, before I move ahead, here are few things you must know as a blogger to optimize your blog for search engine rankings. Read it here.
To answer this question on why it has become essential to have a responsive web design in 2014, here is a professional digital marketing expert Mark Aldein from Brand Maestro.
RWD or responsive web design had an explosive entry in the web design scene in 2012 and after that, it has established itself firmly as one of the best ways of creating websites that mobile visitors will love. In fact, now it has become one of the main features of the landscape of mobile website.
Simply speaking, in responsive design, the pages of a website reformat themselves according to the device where they are displayed on. This makes sure that no matter where the content is being viewed – whether on phone, desktop computer or tablet, the website will be user-friendly. So a responsive website ensures that there is no need to create a mobile site dynamically served or a separate mobile site altogether.
Here are some free WordPress themes I’ve enlisted that are responsive and look stunning. The best part is that they’re free.
Even in case of SEO, responsive layouts are a must. WHY?
I’ll discuss 5 points why having a responsive design has become so necessary these days, and you can share your thoughts in the comments discussing if you believe responsive web design does play a vital part in SEO.
Because Google loves it
The main entity that comes into mind when we say website and SEO is Google. Our websites are aimed to impress this divine entity so it is only rational that we know what it likes and what it dislikes. In fact, Google wholeheartedly recommends RWD as a sure shot way of targeting mobile users and not just that, mobile-optimized sites are favoured when they present search results on some mobile devices. When searching for local services, this is especially applicable.
Some debate still surrounds the issue whether single responsive website or a separate mobile website is the best option. However, considering the SEO perspective, the former is the preferred one. There are different URLs for separate mobile websites and the HTML is different from their desktop counterparts. But only one URL is used by responsive sites with a single set of files and pages that makes the crawling and indexing of content a lot simpler for Google.
Because it enhances user experience
Websites are actually tools to share content. If a site is user-friendly, visitors can easily find, absorb as well as pass this content on. More than anything else, a special emphasis is placed on designing for users. Since user experience is a huge ranking factor, Google thus rightly encourages developers to go for RWD. When visitors are browsing sites through tablet or mobile, all the content can be easily viewed just as simply as desktop users. So if you have spotted something good on a website when browsing on the computer, you can easily send it to someone else to be viewed on their phones; mobile responsive sites will work perfectly well, just like when displayed on your screen.
Because it combats high bounce rate
Despite good search engine rankings, if the working is not effective for tablet and mobile users, the bounce rates will be high. With stripped down content or dissimilar content as offered on their desktop sites, mobile websites will definitely suffer and bounce rates will be high.
With high bounce rate, it will be interpreted by Google that relevant content is not being offered to users, which will lead to a likely drop of rankings. With RWD, there is no need for compromise on the content; you can display whatever you choose. The visitors can see everything, keeping them on the page.
Because a single URL will enhance SEO
There are quite a few benefits of building separate websites. In some cases, it is a good idea to create standalone mobile versions. In case where a lot of content is featured in a website for example in a news site, the website’s responsive version will simply make it a scrolling version and users will have to move their fingers a lot just for the navigation. In this case, mobile friendly sites with carefully refined content for mobile browsing are the ultimate solution.
From the point of view of SEO, a huge challenge posed by separate mobile sites is the fact that the authority of such sites must be built from scratch. In most cases, the ranking of separate mobile sites is not at all well in the search engines since they and their desktop counterparts are canonicalized.
But with a responsive website, you can maintain all backlinks which will help you focus the SEO on a single site. Effectively meaning that a single domain is where all the links will be directed which will give your website a big boost in SERPs. On top of that, responsive websites help in building of social shares for a single URL, so when people share the site, the content will be easily navigable and crystal-clear, no matter where a person views the link – be it on desktop, mobile or tablet.
Because it will be quicker to update
When a mobile site is completely different from the main site, each one has to be updated separately. This may prove to be quite an annoying prospect leading to mistakes, which can ultimately lead to a messed up SEO campaign. When a single website is updated, there are less chances of making significant mistakes. In fact, having a single site makes it easy to manage everything a lot of better. Having two sites simply divides the attention.
Recommended Reading: Free themes vs. Premium themes
Modern users are appealed to responsive websites. These users are most likely to use internet through tablet or mobile device yet expect to have a smooth desktop experience as well. The most effective method of making the most of tablet and mobile traffic is going the responsive way so that the visitors are offered the best user experience as possible. This is something that I have experienced personally as well and I can assure you through my experience that it does actually work.
So, are you getting ready to make your website mobile ready and attract more visitors to your website?
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