For several years now there has been a lot of chatter about the importance of responsive web design. As the years go on mobile continues to be even more important, and so does responsive design. But, why is responsive web design important? What is it and how does it impact SEO? Let’s discuss four reasons why responsive design is important.
What is Responsive Web Design?
Before we can dig into why responsive design is important, you need to know what it is. Responsive Web Design is when the website layout adjusts based on the viewer’s screen size. So, when viewing the site on a mobile device it is a smaller width than the exact same page viewed on a desktop computer. Images or other elements may also be removed to improve the experience on the smaller screen.
4 Reasons Why Responsive Design is Important
Improved User Experience
First, responsive web design is important because it improves the user experience. If someone visits your site on their phone, they expect it to be a proper format for a phone. If they have to pinch and zoom to find the content they’re looking for, they’ll click the back button.
Responsive design allows you to optimize the user experience on every screen size.
Cost Effective
Responsive Web Design is a cost effective way to have a mobile website. There are no extra hosting costs because it uses the exact same site as your desktop version. And any developer costs are minimal because instead of requiring a different skillset it is all configured on the same platform.
Easier to Manage
With responsive web design each individual page can adjust to various device sizes. There is no need to duplicate page content and create a separate layout for mobile or tablets. Because of this, pages are much easier to manage with responsive web design. Content is shared and rearranged as needed. If there’s a type-o or an update you only need to fix it in one spot, not on every variation of the page.
Mobile-First Indexing
And the last reason why responsive design is important is because of Mobile-First Indexing. What that means is that Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the website to determine ranking. That makes it extra important for the mobile version of the website to have the same content as the desktop version. You want the content to be easy to read and interact with, but you still want it to match the desktop version of the site.
In Summary
Having a mobile version of your website is a must these days. It’s no longer a nice-to-have feature, people expect it. And creating one using responsive web design is the easiest and most beneficial way to do so. It improves the user experience, it’s cheaper and easier to manage, and it can even improve your SEO.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
