A Responsive Site Can Improve Your SEO

You know that it’s important for your website to reach people on mobile phones and tablets. But what’s just as important is how your site reaches them. Responsive websites are the best way to reach users across a broad spectrum of devices. And an added bonus? Making your site responsive will help improve your SEO. Mobile Version vs. Responsive Site You may already have a mobile version of your website with separate URL, and you may think that you’re all set. But a mobile site is not the same as a responsive site. A responsive site allows you to maintain multiple versions of your site under one URL. Maintaining multiple URLs confuses users, and worse, confuses Google. A responsive site lets you house all of your content under one URL and still reach users with the same level of functionality -- on any device. How Do Responsive Sites Work? Without getting too technical, I’ll explain how responsive sites work. The developer creates multiple layouts for the site, so that it’s content-rich and functional on laptops, smartphones and tablets. The site’s code is intelligent enough to detect the type of device that is being used to access it, and switches to the correct layout. A responsive site is a bit like Santa Claus – it knows when you’re on your iPhone, it knows when you’re on your PC, and delivers exactly what you ask for. How Do Users Benefit? When engineers are in the field to perform tests or make repairs to your equipment, they can now access your website on mobile phones or tablets. If your site is responsive, this means the site is fully functional on a mobile phone or tablet -- and that they can have easy, quick access to tech docs, spec sheets and schematics. In short, a responsive website is another opportunity for you to provide top-flight customer service. What is the Best Reason to opt for a Responsive Design? The answer is glaringly simple: because Google says so. From Google's guide for developers:

Google supports smartphone-optimized sites in three configurations:

1. Sites that use responsive web design, i.e. sites that serve all devices on the same set of URLs, with each URL serving the same HTML to all devices and using just CSS to change how the page is rendered on the device. This is Google's recommended configuration.
2. Sites that dynamically serve all devices on the same set of URLs, but each URL serves different HTML (and CSS) depending on whether the user agent is a desktop or a mobile device.
3. Sites that have separate mobile and desktop URLs.

(For further reading, visit https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details.) Google prefers sites that are easy for users to find and navigate. Responsive sites succeed on both counts; as a result, Google ranks them higher and the sites perform better in Organic searches, particularly in Organic searches from mobile devices. There’s no better way to ensure success with Google than to do exactly what Google recommends. Of course, not every site can be responsive, and Google understands that. While Google strongly recommends the responsive approach, it still supports separate URLs for desktop and mobile. If that’s your strategy, you will still reach the people you want to reach – just not as well as you would with a responsive site. If you want to optimize for mobile, consider the responsive approach. At Ecreative, we can answer any questions you may have about responsive web design, and help you get started on creating a site that can reach users on smartphones, tablets and PCs. Contact us to discuss your mobile strategy with experienced web developers and search engine marketing experts.