Google and other search engines consider the responsiveness of websites as an important ranking factor. So, if your website’s usability is lacking, then you may not rank high in search engine result pages (SERPs). That’s why you need to focus on building websites that look and work great on any device.

There are many ways a responsive web design can benefit your SEO strategies. In this blog, we’re going to discuss those ways. 

Let’s get started:

What Exactly is a Responsive Web Design?

A responsive website is wholly functional and visible on all screen sizes. So, you can engage readers regardless of their screen size, device type, platform, and orientation.

Did you know mobile traffic accounts for almost half of the internet traffic worldwide? This means website owners have to make their sites accessible and easy to navigate on mobile devices and all other platforms.

Why Do You Need a Responsive Website?

Following are the main reasons why responsiveness of your web design is critical for SEO:

• Google Favors Mobile-First Websites.

Google and other search engines now prioritize websites that are optimized for mobile devices. In addition, Google's ranking algorithm is inclined toward responsive and user-friendly websites. This helps provide valuable and accessible content to users. So, your website should easily render on mobile devices.

• Minimized Bounce Rate.

Millennials are impatient. They want websites with responsive capabilities. Otherwise, they will leave in favor of a responsive competitor, adding to your bounce rate. 

A website lacking responsive capabilities shows that you're not up to date and you don't care about customers. This results in a long-lasting negative impression of your brand.

So, you’ve to make your website accessible and responsive. Your audience should be able to access your website on any device at any time. This will ultimately reduce your bounce rate and result in increased customer satisfaction with your brand online.

• Improved Website Speed.

Forty percent of web users abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. This means your website should load in less than three seconds. Because of this consumer trend, Google considers page load speed another SEO ranking factor. 

Mobile responsive websites, optimized for performance, load faster on any device. When your website is responsive and fast, your chances of ranking higher in SERPs also increase.

• Increases Social Shares.

People share on their social media what they like. So, if you want our audience to share about your website on social media, you’ve to make your design responsive.

Although social shares don’t directly affect your SEO, Google directs more traffic to websites that are already getting more traffic. This means increased brand exposure and higher ranking.

• Get More Backlinks Easily.

Backlinks are critical for a proven SEO strategy. Backlinks refer to income links to your website from other websites through anchor texts.

Building backlinks can be challenging when your website has two different versions – one for web browsers and one for mobile. On the other hand, having one responsive and flexible website makes it easy to get backlinks. The more backlinks your website has, the higher the ranking you can expect.

So, make your website responsive today to strengthen your SEO strategy.