The devices we use to surf the web are no longer limited to “traditional” computers, like laptops and desktops. With the rise of smartphones, websites need to work just as cleanly on many different platforms to look good and perform well.

Websites designed to be ‘responsive’ do just that – they ‘respond’ to different screen sizes and dynamically adapt themselves to the needs of the visitor.

Here’s a quick overview of the advantages of responsive website design and how they can benefit your online presence.

A World Without Responsive Design

Without responsive design, a business must create multiple website layouts for each size of the device that might try to access it.

This creates an exhausting amount of content to continuously update, slows download times, and often results in more basic, less attractive mobile websites.

In a responsive website design, resolution, image size, and scripting are all switched to the most user-friendly and aesthetically-pleasing format on the fly when a visitor loads your site.

The technology recognizes the device, the screen size, and orientation (landscape or portrait) and makes changes as necessary.

Advantages of Responsive Design

Responsive is no longer an emerging technology, and it already has the Google seal of approval. The company has publicly stated that “responsive design is Google’s recommended design pattern.”

They did not make this decision lightly, either – according to Google, many people said if a site didn’t work well on their smartphones, it gave the appearance that the company did not care about their business.

Responsive design doesn’t just help you serve your clients better, it helps you maintain a positive online reputation.

SEO and Responsive Design

Not only does responsive design provide an easy-to-navigate and appealing web design for your site no matter what platform it’s on, it also boosts your search engine rankings.

Faster Load Times. When a business has several different websites for different device sizes, the user must be redirected to a new page when they try to access the site from a mobile device. Responsive design requires no redirection, generating faster load times, which is is a ranking factor for Google’s search algorithm.

Lower Bounce Rates. If a website does not have a responsive design, sometimes content can be cut out of the website or displayed incorrectly. When the Internet user does not find what they are looking for on your site, they move on. This is called a bounce, another aspect of Google ranking. Responsive design ensures all of your content is displayed so the Internet user can find it.

Stronger Backlinks. Building links is another huge aspect of SEO and when using responsive design, all of your backlinks are in one place, making them the most effective.

Better User Experience. As mentioned before, reputation can be at stake when showcasing your website. Poor navigation, confusing formats, and missing information can give your website a bad reputation with Google, hurting your rankings.

Simply put, responsive does it better. As searches from mobile devices continue to outstrip those from desktop computers, mobile has proven itself to be much more than a fad.

When a potential client searches for you on the go, you want your site to be available, easy to find, and easy for them to use.

If you have any questions about making sure your website is optimized for the mobile experience, contact Coaching Websites.