Due to the increased popularity of mobile devices, the need for a responsive website has gone from being a nice feature to becoming a necessity.
Starting April 21, Google says it will be expanding its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change is for Google to give the user the best search results that are optimized for the device he or she is using.
We’ve determined that Google will be ranking sites better if it gives the users a strong mobile experience. Here are a few other things that having a responsive design as opposed to a mobile site can help with your Orlando SEO:
URL structure – With a responsive site, there is no need for Google to crawl different URLs, no more [/mobile] URL structures; you also don’t have to deal with different domains such as: yoursite.mobile.com. It will all be the same page and is described best by Matt Cutts.
“In general, I wouldn’t worry about a site that is using responsive design losing SEO benefits because by definition you’ve got the same URL,” Cutts said. “So in theory, if you do a mobile version of the site, if you don’t handle that well and you don’t do the and all those sorts of things, then you might, in theory, divide the PageRank between those two pages. But if you have responsive design then everything is handled from one URL, so the Page Rank doesn’t get divided, everything works fine.
Duplicate Content- The above URL structure also insures you that you won’t get hit by Google for having the same content on your mobile site as you do on your desktop. A responsive site easier to manage and allows for continuity over multiple devices.
Bounce Rate- Having a responsive site insures correlation between what users see on the desktop or tablet is also similar to what they see on their phone.
If your site isn’t mobile friendly at all, 61% of your visitors will return to Google to find a site that is easily readable (Karim Temsamani at IABALM 2012).
Local Search- Experts agree that contrary to desktop searches, local search is a big part of mobile searches that take place on smart phones. Google’s recent study shows local searches lead 50% of mobile users to visit stores. Make sure your site is optimized for mobile to take advantage of this great statistic.
If you need to redo your website and want to find tune your mobile SEO strategy, having a responsive design is the best option. It allows you to manage your SEO efforts easier, helps with user experience, and of course, it is recommended by Google.
Thank you for reading; if you liked the blog please share. Also, if you need help addressing your Orlando SEO strategy, contact us today.
– Rick D.
