The website is the heart of your online business. With so many people trying to make their websites as attractive and easy to navigate as possible, one factor that needs to be taken into account is how your website works on mobile devices. While the emphasis on mobile devices has been obvious for the past few years as more people are accessing the web with smartphones and tablets almost exclusively, there is another factor that will now help force the issue when it comes to being mobile friendly.
The Google Announcement
Google is at the heart of search engine optimization (SEO) and they have announced a major update that will help reward sites which are mobile friendly in nature. In fact, Google has implemented changes that are right now promoting sites that have a responsive design while in turn pushing down those whose websites are not mobile friendly.
The reason is fairly obvious as more people today access the web through their mobile devices as compared to desktops and laptops. While standard computers will still be an important part of surfing the web, they are no longer the dominant force and Google is looking to the future. For those who do not have a responsive web design, they will see their search engine rankings drop considerably.
Why Choose a Responsive Web Design?
This type of web design means that whatever the screen size where the website is being viewed, the website will adapt to the display. So, for someone who views your website on a smartphone, tablet or large monitor, it will appear the same. This means that a potential user will have the ability to view your site on all of their devices. This will not only create better convenience, but a better impression of your online business.
In addition, a responsive web design means that whatever new devices are developed you will not have to upgrade your website for the change. This will allow you to focus on other matters to improve your web traffic and sales conversions that will boost the bottom line.
Frankly, it’s actually surprising that Google has not mandated such as change earlier. When you consider just how popular mobile devices have become in the past decade, the fact that only now are significant changes being made at Google may reflect a more conservative approach in dealing with changing their system. However, the introduction of responsive web design has eliminated the need for having multiple websites that have exclusive domain over mobile devices.
Save Money On a Redesign
However, it must be stated that making a website that is strictly for mobile users is actually cheaper than putting in a responsive design. Basically, a stripped-down version of your main website that can only be accessed from mobile devices is something that you may be able to achieve yourself depending on your website platform. Of course, you will have to update both sites at the same time which is more time consuming.
Installing a responsive website design is initially more expensive, but ultimately works better and offers a good, long-term solution to the new challenges that Google has initiated since this type of design will benefit from having computer and mobile users seeing the same site. Therefore, those who have not considered investing in a responsive design might want to do so quickly in order to reap the maximum benefits.