Responsive Design Is The Key

Over the last few years, the number of mobile users has gone up by leaps and bounds. Many companies today have a mobile counterpart to their main site to accommodate this trend. However, having a mobile website doesn’t address the trend in the best possible manner. There are issues like designing for tablet vs. mobile phone users and splitting link equity in your SEO campaigns that you will face. Responsive web design can solve many of these issues.

One of the weaknesses of mobile sites is the fact that it cannot be everything to everyone. What this means is that while you can design a simple site that will please mobile phone users, it won’t necessarily please tablet users. Tablet users tend to favor websites that are designed for desktop computers because tablets are fully capable of displaying design rich websites and running websites with more complex functionalities.

Another weakness about mobile sites is that you have to spread your SEO campaign throughout two different sites. Google and the other search engines look at subdomains as a completely different website. This means that you would have to build links and content to both your mobile website and main website if you are planning to bring in traffic via SEO.

How content is updated and maintained is also another concern. Websites that are larger in size will find it tedious to organize their content, update their content and add new content from their main site to their mobile site. This problem won’t be noticeable if a website is small but will most certainly become an issue once a website starts to get bigger.

Responsive design solves all these issues. You can reorganize your website to suit mobile phone users while also pleasing tablet users. This is because responsive websites display the optimal viewing experience based on the device that’s being used. And this will be important as new mobile devices such as mini tablets are released into the market.

Once you set up a template for your responsive site, you’ll have no trouble updating your website with new content. The content will be integrated without you having to change the site structure. Users will not need to learn how to browse your mobile site with a new user interface (if they’ve been accustomed to your desktop site) either.

The problems with SEO will also be resolved. The search engines will count your main domain URL as both a mobile and desktop listing. So when you build content or links, you’ll be making your efforts count twice since mobile search results and desktop search results are ranked differently. Your organization will save money, resource and time as a result.

Responsive design isn’t perfect but it solves a lot of the issues that you face with mobile sites. Responsive web design is the key to future proofing your website and providing the most optimal experience for all your users. And if SEO is a big part of your company’s strategy, you’ll want to invest in responsive design as it will more than pay for itself in the long run.