You’ve probably heard that mobile search has overtaken desktop over the past few years. That’s right! People are now using smartphones and tablets to access the internet more than their computers at home.
In fact, last year people spent an average of 3 hours and 15 minutes a day on mobiles devices. There’s no reason to think this trend will drop off.
What does this mean for business owners who rely on their website to bring in new clients? It means a responsive site is an absolute must.
Aside from providing mobile users with a seamless experience, responsive web design benefits your SEO strategy.
To give you a better understanding, let’s break down why a responsive site is crucial to the well-being of your business’s web presence.
Faster Load Times
Good load times don’t just contribute to a better experience for the visitor. They’re now an established factor in search engine rankings.
In recent years, Google has shown that it favors sites with fast load times. In 2018, the search engine giant plans to move to mobile-first indexing. This means your site needs to perform as well on mobile devices than it does on desktops.
Site speed is more important than ever. In fact, a site needs to load in no more than two seconds. Anything longer could result in poor rankings and higher bounce rates due to visitor impatience.
One of the responsive web design benefits is consistently speedy load times, even on mobile devices. Take a look at your current site. If you find yourself waiting for pages to load, it’s time to make some changes.
Cut Down on Duplicate Content
Unique and relevant content is very important in getting the rankings you’re going after. If you have a separate mobile site, you run the risk of hurting your rankings as a result of duplicate content.
Because a mobile site requires a different URL, Google will index both of your sites separately and pick up two sets of the same content. While this won’t result in a penalty, it hurts your potential for higher rankings.
This problem goes away with a responsive design. Instead of continuing with an entirely different mobile site, simply employ responsive design and keep all your eggs in one basket.
This means you’ll have a single website that covers all your bases. No more duplicate content out there to bring down your rankings.
Maximize the Power of Social Media
Guess how most people access their social media accounts. That’s right – smartphones.
As a business, you probably understand the power social media has in exposing your brand to more people. With individuals sharing and interacting on sites like Facebook and Twitter more than ever before, it’s essential that you’re taking advantage of these channels.
A responsive web design benefits your ability to fully leverage your site on social media. By making social sharing extremely easy for the user, your site will reach a wider audience.
When your site is responsive, your social profile buttons make sharing content quick and easy. This means the potential for more traffic to your site and better audience engagement.
In order to harness the power of social media, your site must be able to function seamlessly on mobile devices. If it doesn’t, you’re eliminating its sharing potential.
The Usability Factor
One of the most important responsive web design benefits is it allows visitors to gracefully read content, navigate through, and interact with your site in a mobile environment.
If your visitors can’t navigate your site properly on their mobile devices, you quickly become an afterthought. Furthermore, Google now rewards sites that provide a good user experience. It considers average time spent on a page when ranking a website.
With a responsive site, you’ll also benefit from repeat visitors. Establishing trust is an important factor for a business, and a reliable mobile experience helps build this.
Responsive design also ensures your visitors can seamlessly follow a call-to-action and easily reach out to you through web forms, Google maps and via your phone number. Not only does this service help your search engine rankings, it supports your bottom line – conversion.
Utilize Existing Backlinks
You’ve spent time and money building up your backlinks to help enhance your rankings. But without a responsive design, you’re not fully taking advantage of this backlink juice.
A separate mobile version of your site means you must start over with your link building strategy. Instead, go responsive and bring all this link credibility over to your mobile presence.
Google rewards high-quality, authoritative links back to your site. You want all these links pointing to a single URL. You also want them pointing to a site that opens and displays well on a mobile device.
A backlink is a vote of confidence, so make sure to follow up this vote of confidence with a good mobile experience. Google will notice.
Decrease Your Bounce Rate
Credible content is extremely important now, as is user experience. When Google sees a high bounce rate, it interprets this as the result of poor content and functionality.
Not only does a high bounce rate hurt your rankings, it means you’re missing out on potential customers. With such a high percentage of searches coming from mobile devices, the lack of a responsive design is a sure-fire way to turn people away.
Responsive web design benefits your bounce rate numbers by delivering your content with ease of use. It helps user experience, which means people stick around and also return to your site.
This is why having a responsive site simply can’t be ignored anymore.
Responsive Web Design Benefits Your Bottom Line
In order for your business to properly maintain its current client base and attract new customers, your website must be responsive. Online conversion depends on a good user experience across all platforms, and responsive design helps achieve this. It’s quickly becoming the standard, so make sure you get on board now.
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