4 Ways That Responsive Web Design Benefits Your Vancouver SEO

Online search has changed in a variety of ways in recent years, but perhaps the most significant change has resulted from increased mobile use. Even Google has now moved to a mobile-first index, with an emphasis on a good user experience for mobile users.

Obviously, then, it’s vital for your website to be ready for mobile use. Responsive web design refers to your site’s ability to format itself correctly, depending on what sort of device is being used to view it. You have likely seen several sites that do not display correctly on phones and tablets, and that is definitely not what how you wish your site to respond.

Responsive design is now a critical component of your website and is reflected in search results. To give you a better understanding of the role this plays, here are 3 ways that responsive web design benefits your Vancouver SEO.

The Duke of URL

A great feature of responsive web design is the ease of transition to it. Building a website, developing backlinks, and gaining authority all take time and effort—time and effort that you probably don’t want to expend in building a separate, mobile version of your website. With responsive design, you can keep your URL and the authority you have built.

Google and other search engines are able to differentiate between sites that are mobile-only and desktop-only. This means that sites designed and optimized for the desktop will not appear in mobile searches, and vice-versa. Knowing that it’s clear to see the value of responsive design, which allows you to appear in both.

Less Bounce Than a Broken Trampoline

You could have a simply-gorgeous website with a beautiful theme and fantastic presentation, but if it is not optimized for mobile, that won’t matter at all. Any visit from mobile devices will be short and not-so-sweet. Using mobile to view a site optimized for desktop quickly becomes a frustrating chore, resulting in a high bounce rate.

Your site’s bounce rate is used by search engines as a measure of a user’s experience and satisfaction level. When visitors to your site leave almost immediately after arriving, Google responds by reducing your search rank, which results in less traffic and makes it much harder to reach your target audience.

Responsive design, however, ensures that all users—mobile and desktop—have a similarly enjoyable experience, which helps to lower your bounce rate substantially. If your bounce rate is not what you want it to be, then you need to prioritize the user experience, and responsive design is your best tool for doing so.

Loading in a Flash

Google considers a loading time of less than one second to be their ideal, and yet the average loading time for mobile pages is hovering around 7 seconds.

If you have a separate mobile site, this requires that your visitors be redirected to a different URL, which costs valuable time. Responsive design allows you to have a single URL, which allows for much faster loading.

With Google emphasizing the importance of loading speed, and many visitors leaving a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load, this is an important consideration in your ability to reach your audience.

Google Likes it and That’s Reason Enough

We all know that Google is the #1 search engine. As such, virtually every major marketing and SEO company listens to and tries to please them in order to rank well. To perform well in Google’s search engine, one needs to follow their advice, and Google continually emphasizes the importance of responsive design.

Google has an easier time understanding responsive websites by making it easier for their Googlebot to analyze the website’s content, gain all necessary data, and gauge the optimal user experience. The end result of all this is that it boosts your SEO in a very noticeable manner.

These are just a few of the benefits available to you when you adopt responsive design. In addition to the boost to SEO, it also allows digital marketers to obtain and better analyze appropriate data. If you are looking for a way to improve your website’s performance, now is the time to consider responsive design.

If you have any questions about Web design contact us at Marwick Marketing!

About Marwick Marketing

Marwick Internet Marketing is a Premier Google Partner Agency specializing in Search Marketing (SEO, PPC & CRO). With offices in Vancouver, Victoria and Squamish, Canada.