Google’s Concerns
It has been heard and read that Google prefers websites to be responsive for mobile devices in order to get to the top ranks. As responsive web designing means presenting a single URL for all devices, so SEO efforts are supported to a great extent. It also means that the link juice would be sent to a single URL, not to the multiple URLs representing the same business.
Another version of Google is that if it’s not possible to serve a single HTML for all devices and using the CSS media queries only to serve different devices, website owners can serve the content having different HTML.
All it means Google is OK with both options: having the same website responsive for all devices and having different websites for different devices.
Another version of Google is that if it’s not possible to serve a single HTML for all devices and using the CSS media queries only to serve different devices, website owners can serve the content having different HTML.
All it means Google is OK with both options: having the same website responsive for all devices and having different websites for different devices.
Why To Go For Non-Responsive Web Designing?
After having Google’s recommendation on both options, the question is why Google thinks that non- responsive web designing is also good? The reason is simple as many websites might not be optimized for small screens particularly the game sites, so having bad experience of the site lets the users switch to some other site. It’s for sure a reason of negative SEO impact.
However, that’s not the sole reason to stay away from responsive web designing when it comes to effectiveness of the SEO strategy. Some other reasons are mentioned in the lines below that cause a tilt in decision of responsive web designing.
A website needs Specific features
If your website has some mobile specific features, then having a mobile version of the site is needed the most.
However, that’s not the sole reason to stay away from responsive web designing when it comes to effectiveness of the SEO strategy. Some other reasons are mentioned in the lines below that cause a tilt in decision of responsive web designing.
A website needs Specific features
If your website has some mobile specific features, then having a mobile version of the site is needed the most.
Mobile specific content is needed
If your target audience needs the content tailored to them, then a separate site should be there to cater to the needs of mobile audience. It means you are providing your mobile visitors some different experience what they expect from the mobile version of your website. Content relevancy issues are also tackled by making different websites for desktop users and for mobile audience.
Mobile eCommerce is frequent
If mobile based eCommerce deals are more frequent at your website, then a separate version for mobile users only is required to help the visitors in easy browsing of the products and the shopping cart.
Targeting the Mobile specific keywords
If you want to target the mobile specific keywords separately, then a separate mobile version of the site is needed. In order to rank for mobile devices, pages need to be optimized for mobile specific keywords.
The main concern should be the content and the target audience. The decision about responsive or non responsive web designing should be made accordingly.
The main concern should be the content and the target audience. The decision about responsive or non responsive web designing should be made accordingly.
Why To Decide About Responsive Web Designing?
First of all, it’s better to clear your mind that SEO of a site is not just dependent on the website design. Responsive web design means a website is easy to read by the users regardless of the device they are using. It’s about the way designing elements are arranged for the users as per device they are using to access the website.
What other are the advantages that make responsive web designing a prudent decision of the business owners as well as the web designers? Have a glimpse in the lines below.
What other are the advantages that make responsive web designing a prudent decision of the business owners as well as the web designers? Have a glimpse in the lines below.
It’s a cost effective approach
Having a separate website for the mobile and desktop users might be a good option in terms of SEO, but do you think you can afford the cost of different website versions? If you can afford, then go for different versions, but if want the low cost approach, then responsive web designing is the better option.
It’s more convenient
Creating separate websites for mobile and desktop users might take more time of the designers as well as developers. SEO pros will also take time to get both websites ranked on top of search engines. The more time they will take the more would be the incurring cost. Responsive web designing is a time-efficient and cost effective approach to follow.
The content consistency is there
If you want consistency in the content being shared with the site visitors, then responsive website is the better option compared to the mobile-only approach. For the later approach, you will have to spend more time in creating content for different websites and then sharing that separately on different platforms.
It’s conversion-friendly
What’s the main purpose of creating a website? The conversions. Are conversions possible with a separate mobile website? The answer is simple NO. The reason is the different experience of the mobile users and that of the desktop users. With a responsive website, the single conversion strategy can go well both for the mobile users and the desktop users. No additional conversion cost is needed to pay while having a single website catering to all devices.
Conclusion
What you have concluded from the discussion above? Is responsive web design harmful for SEO or not? Absolutely not, The purpose of responsive web design is to provide the users with enhanced web experience, which is a highly admired feature by Google and any other search engine, resulting in better ranks against competition. Never think that your web design is good for SEO or not, but think whether it’s good for the content to be shared and the end users. If you are clear in making that decision, you wouldn’t take enough time to decide about the responsive web designing.
Emma Jones writes this post for the SEO pros and interested readers who think curiously about responsive web designing. Emma is currently part of a web design company Glasgow. Emma tries to provide the readers with information about any new concept introduced in the world of web designing, web development, and SEO. You can follow her on twitter @vaniatech.
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ReplyDeleteAlso from user point of view it is not preferable to have over responsive web design. In limit i think its fine to have web design like this but over as usual is always bad in this case. Website Development Company know about this and they put their best effort in making web design having no issue at all
ReplyDeleteThe above information is nice and informative for those people who want to know what is the different between responsive web design and mobile site. Building a responsive website is become important for every businesses. There are many website design company that providing responsive web design services to their clients.
ReplyDeleteCliff Almedia
ReplyDeleteI would definitely prefer a responsive design because, to me the benefits far out way those of a mobile website.