If you’ve been in the online marketing and SEO fields long enough, you probably already have an inkling that one of the most important aspects of website building is responsive design. You might ask, “Why is a responsive website important?” Well, for one, if you’re already aware of responsive design, you should prioritize developing your website to cater more to your mobile users.

A website with a responsive design, after all, simply means it is able to render itself perfectly in any kind of mobile medium. In order to understand why it has such a significant impact on search engine optimization and website building, you have to go over the preceding events that led up to the upsurge of mobile usage and its background in general.

The advent of smartphones saw a gradual overtaking of desktop searches by their mobile counterparts. Trends have always shown that smartphones surpassing desktops in terms of search preference are inevitable. In fact, it happened exactly in 2016. This is no surprise as smartphones offer an unprecedented, inimitable convenience for users when conducting their daily online activities, online searches included. With mobilegeddon, more people discovered the importance of a responsive website design.

From then on, websites that don’t cater to mobile browsers (in short, those that don’t have a responsive design) led to lesser engagement from people utilizing the said medium. Oftentimes, the elements of their website (e.g. text, images, and videos) aren’t displayed properly on mobile screens, may they be smartphones or tablets.

Google encouraged webmasters to start implementing responsive designs to their websites by making mobile-friendliness a big factor for ranking in their search engine. In short, those websites that out of their way to make their website design more responsive now have a higher chance to rank for keywords in their respective niches. However, this is just a preliminary step.

With the passage of time, Google advanced this further by introducing a more impactful change to their algorithm in the form of mobile-first indexing. Basically, this means the mobile version of your site takes precedence over its desktop variation when it comes to deciding whether it would get indexed or not. From this fact alone, it has become apparent that having a responsive website design is no longer just a recommendation, it’s a necessity.

Higher search rankings aren’t the only advantage you can accrue from a responsive website design. Having your website displayed optimally in any kind of screen resolution or device also makes it easier for visitors to use your website. This opens up a lot of opportunities for you to develop your site to raise engagements and even conversions. This hinges primarily on the fact that prioritizing responsive web design also means placing importance on user experience.

Essentially, responsive website designs also result in better bounce rates and quicker loading times. As long as you are able to have this kind of flexibility when presenting your website in various platforms, you need not worry about tarnishing your brand or professionalism. In short, responsive designs are nothing short of necessary if you want your business to grow.

As you can see, a responsive website design is important for both established and startups brands. A responsive website design can result in better SEO, an increase in web traffic, more leads, and ultimately, sales.

Now is the perfect time for a responsive website design or website redesign with Tampa SEO Agency’s web design services. Contact our Tampa website design company today for a free website design consultation.