WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS GO WITH A RESPONSIVE DESIGN FOR YOUR WEBSITE

As we continue to monitor the development of the mobile internet—after all, more Google searches take place on mobile devices than they do in 10 countries, including the U.S.— and better understand how mobile search will shape the internet of tomorrow, one aspect of making your site “mobile friendly” that comes up again and again is responsive design.

In the months leading up to Google’s big Mobile Update, countless articles were published pleading with webmasters to grow with the times and adapt a responsive design for their site.

But what does it mean to have a site with responsive design? Simply put, responsive design is the approach to web page design that utilizes flexible layouts, flexible images, and cascading style sheet media queries with the goal of creating web pages that can adapt themselves to a visitor’s screen size and orientation, changing the layout accordingly.

Now, responsive design is not the end-all be-all. There are two other mobile configurations: adaptive design and separate mobile site. With the former, adapative design serves different devices using the same URL structure, which then detects the device and thus generates a particular version of the site’s HTML that will work with the particular device. The latter, on the other hand, was the go-to solution at the advent of mobile web surfing and, like it sounds, involving building a completely separate and unique mobile site. While this choice might sound like the most work, keep in mind that 54% of the top 500 brands online use the separate site configuration.

However, in looking to Google to see which configuration is their preferred model, the choice is clear: Responsive design is Google’s recommended design pattern. This unequivocal statement from the search giant has led some SEO analysts to claim that Google uses responsive design as a ranking factor. However, as there is no conclusive study currently to prove this, one should opt for responsive design simply because it’s the best mobile configuration and it’s Google’s preferred choice, meaning that if even if responsive design is not a ranking factor, it will likely help your site’s chances to rank higher in the long run.

At the very least, responsive design will result in a better user experience, which will in turn lead to better user experience, which does have an impact on Google’s search algorithm. So if you haven’t already, start working with your developer today to decide how to best implement your site’s new responsive design.