According to a study conducted by Google in October 2016, approximately 40% internet users search using only their smartphones. Mobile browsing has clearly overtaken desktop browsing as the first choice for most internet users.
This makes responsive web design not just an option but a necessity in today’s modern world. Without incorporating responsive web design in your online marketing strategy, you cannot expect your ratings to go up.
What Is Responsive Web Design?
Matt Cutts from Google offers us an amazing, non-technical definition: “Responsive design just means that the page works totally fine whether you access the site’s URL with a desktop browser or whether you access that URL with a mobile browser, things will rescale, and the page size will be taken into account.”
Why Is Mobile Traffic Important For Your Marketing Strategy?
Setting up a highly responsive website not only decreases your reliance on the resources being used for maintenance but also offers numerous valuable Search Engine Optimization benefits as well. A mobile friendly website will help you rise far above your competition by allowing you to become search engine optimized.
1. Curtails Duplicate Content
Some people choose to get a separate mobile website for their business instead of using a responsive website design. This will require using a new URL and then duplicating your content across both websites. You can avoid duplicating the content by selecting a mobile responsive website design. This helps in boosting your SEO, as duplicate content across a number of pages will negatively affect your ranking on Google and other search engines.
2. Improves the Site Usability
To judge a website’s value for users, Google views the total time spent on the website’s pages. When the users are unable to navigate your website, they will not spend much time browsing through it. A responsive web design will make it easier for users to look through your website. This will subsequently lead to an enhanced user experience and increased time spent on your website. Two of the most important ranking factors include time on page and consumer experience,therefore, sites with a mobile responsive design are likely to be ranked higher in search results.
3. Boosts Social Sharing
A responsive web design will encourage internet users to share your content easily through different social media platforms. By using the social media buttons easily accessible to them, users are able to share content much more quickly than they can when they use a desktop computer.
4. Improves Page Speed
The time a page takes to load is a major ranking factor. Websites which take less time to load are favored by search engines. These websites also offer a better user experience. Pages with slow loading speed frustrate the users and also usually do not rank well in search results. Therefore, it is recommended that websites should be optimized to load quickly. When a website is mobile responsive, it will load faster, particularly on mobile devices, which boosts search ranking and improves user experience as well.
5. Lesser Bounce Rate
Another facet of judging how valuable the site is for users is the bounce rate. Google studies the user behavior and makes note of the times of when users enter a page and leave it. When Google interprets a very short period of time spent on the website it is a signal that users do not find the content presented on the website relevant or interesting enough. When your site’s bounce rate is high, Google negatively adjusts your ratings accordingly.
6. Reduces User Distraction
Content and design go hand in hand when it comes to attracting or distracting the user. If your website’s design makes it difficult for the users to navigate it they will soon leave. When you have mobile responsive web design users can easily find all the information they are searching for without them being distracted by an unresponsive web design.
