Why Is Responsive Design So Important To Google

Whether you are running an e-commerce business or selling a product or a service, you need to make your customer journey as simple and intuitive as possible. This is where responsive design plays a key role. Responsive design has been a big thing for a few years now. Long gone are the days when you had to zoom the page on your mobile. Today, 50% of Internet searches happen on mobile phones. It's also important to bear in mind that 80% of the visitors who search for your company on Google want to make a purchase. You want to make this as easy as possible for them. 

So what is responsive web design? 

Your website should be consistent and look the same on any device - laptop, mobile, or tablet. Responsive web design is a way of making sure this happens. A responsive website helps to create a user-friendly, intuitive experience that your site visitors will enjoy using. In this blog we have listed the main reasons why having a responsive website should be at the top of your priorities:

Improved User Experience 

Having an intuitive website that is easy to navigate is critical. Your site should grab your visitors' attention and make them want to find out more about your product or service. If your site is clunky or takes ages to load, people will just move on. Give your visitors a reason to stay and explore. Content should be available immediately - not too much zooming and scrolling. Also, a good browsing UX experience will reflect well on your brand. 

Improved SEO

One of the biggest benefits of having a responsive web design is greatly improved SEO. Google takes into consideration how responsive your website is. If your website is not user-friendly, it will be marked down in search engine results. Here are five reasons why responsive web design can significantly help your SEO:

• Page Load Time — Google likes websites that have a faster load time, so make sure you optimise it, as it will rank higher.
• Bounce Rate — If Google notices that you have a high bounce rate (a bounce is every time a visitor leaves your site without interacting with it), it will automatically have a bad impact on your website ranking. If your website is not responsive you will likely have high bounce rates - even if you have useful and authoritative content.
• Duplicate Content — Google needs to rank pages in order of relevance and importance. If you have duplicate content on your site it will significantly lower your website rankings. 
• Social Media — Having a responsive web design will help your visitors share content much more easily on their social media channels.

Faster website loading time

If your website is too slow, your visitors will abandon your website and go somewhere else. It's pretty obvious really! Here are a few things you can do to make your website load faster and keep your visitors on your site:

1. Compress and optimise your images — avoid using large images as this will negatively impact loading time. If you reduce their size, you also reduce their “weight. There is a wide range of plugins you can use to reduce your images' size. 
2. Cache your web pages — if you cache your web pages, it will lower Time to First Byte (TTFB). You can do this by either using plugins or at the server level, which means that your host does that for you.
3. Eliminate the plugins you don't need — If you have too many plugins on your site, this can significantly slow download speeds. Review the plugins you are using and determine which ones you don't need. 
4. Enable browser caching — this method allows the browser to store different information, including images, JavaScript files, and stylesheets. This way, it doesn't have to reload the page every time a visitor visits it.
5. If you are not sure about how to go about doing this, you should talk to some of the best marketing companies who will provide you with clear guidelines or help you create a website that will be optimised for SEO.

Lower cost and streamlined website maintenance 

Many companies do not have the time or the resources to constantly update their website or employ a full-time web designer. A responsive website will allow you to quickly and easily make changes yourself - you will be in control of your content. Overall, responsive design will save you a lot of time and allow you to focus on the things that matter. 

Reduced bounce rate 

Once you improve your user experience, your bounce rate will significantly drop. Google will like that and reward you with a higher ranking on search engine results.

Is responsive web design essential for your business success?

Creating a responsive website is not always plain sailing. Here are some issues that people have come up against when building a responsive site:

• Not every website looks great on every single device. There may be design issues that need addressing. 
• You may face some issues regarding the size of banners and advertisements 
• You may wish to offer different services to different types of users - this might require a different approach.
• You may have a hard time creating a website that is perfectly in balance with your branding

There may be challenges and setbacks but overall, a responsive website provides a better user experience and that is what most businesses are striving for.  

What's your next step?

The bottom line is that responsive web design should be an integral part of your web strategy. If you don't have the time or in-house resources to build a great user experience, consider hiring a website design and development company that will help you create the website that your customers deserve. This will allow you to focus on your business and the things that are most important to you.

by Christopher Oldman | 27 Sep 23