Mobility Matters – How Google made Responsive Web Design a necessity
Mobile matters: How Google made Responsive Web Design a necessity Despite the surge of users accessing the Internet on mobile devices — Google estimates that 94% of smartphone owners search for local information on their phones, and that 77% of those searches occur at work or home — many website owners have dragged their feet on making their sites more mobile-friendly. This despite numerous reports that have shown a clear relationship between a more pleasant user experience, in mobile or desktop environments, and increased clicks, page views, conversions and sales.
But fence sitters might have to hop down from their perches of procrastination now that Google has announced it will start making mobile friendliness a ranking signal beginning April 21, 2015. What does that mean? Simple: sites that are mobile friendly will rank higher in Google search results than similar sites that are not optimized for mobile users. Even more distressing for those fence sitters, Google’s most recent algorithm change will affect not only mobile search results, but desktop results as well. And you can bet other search engines will soon follow suit, if they haven’t already made similar adjustments.
What does this mean for you? Website owners should pay attention anytime Google announces a change that will affect their site’s search engine optimization (SEO) results. The simplest and most efficient way to embrace the mobile movement is to implement a theme that uses “Responsive Web Design” (RWD), ensuring your site smoothly transitions between any and all devices with which a user may access it, thus not only making for an enjoyable browsing experience but, now, also improving your SEO reach. To be sure, failing to respond could have debilitating effects on your site’s performance.
If you’d like to learn more about how to utilize RWD with your website and keep in step with Google’s ever changing algorithm, contact Kaptur Design for a free consultation. We would love to help your site reach more people and look great on any device while doing it!