When it comes to attracting people to your website, search engine ranking is key. Having your page among the top few results for relevant search terms provides business with significant traffic and visibility, so it’s no surprise that the first page of Google is a highly coveted spot.
To determine which sites appear and in what order for any search, search engines regularly crawl every site on the searchable internet and use an algorithm to determine the quality and relevance of a site for potential search terms (i.e. keywords). A lot of SEO work focuses on the keyword aspects of optimising for this algorithm, however, it is not the only thing that determines the value of a website.
The algorithm is calculated on a user-first basis, meaning that it prioritises the users of the engine (i.e. the people searching) over the websites themselves. Therefore a good user experience is crucial to achieving and maintaining a good ranking, with mobile responsiveness often critical to achieving this.
With large numbers of people using their phones to browse the internet, and devices such as tablets becoming increasingly popular, there is no longer a one-size-fits-all option for website design. Standard screen sizes differ by device make, manufacturer, and edition (just remember how many different sized phone cases are out there and the frustration of accidentally buying the wrong one); making sure your site is mobile responsive is more important than ever.
So what does Mobile Responsive mean?
Simply put, mobile responsiveness refers to the ability of your site’s user interface to fit the size of the screen that is being used. This has multiple design considerations including the size of buttons (tiny buttons that are relatively easy to use with a traditional cursor can be a nightmare for fingers on a small screen) and screen orientation.
With over half of all searches worldwide being made on mobile since 2019, search engines have taken notice.[1] In 2019, Google announced that their site indexing will adopt a mobile-first method, meaning that priority will be given to the performance of the mobile version of the site over the desktop.[2] If your site does not have a workable mobile version, it will be penalised.
As well as design, page loading speed and user journey are also important considerations to the algorithm. If your site isn’t easily useable on a small screen, users will not stay on your site, costing you potential business and communicating to the search engine that the site is unsuitable for mobile use, causing your site ranking to drop.
And it’s not just search engines! 55% of social media engagements (including clicks to websites) happen on mobile devices, so if you’re regularly using the platform to promote your site, you want to make sure you’re linking to a page that your customers can interact with.[3]
At Verto, all our websites are mobile-responsive as standard. Take a look at our portfolio on your phone, tablet, and desktop, check your own website, and get in touch today to find out more!
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/
[2] https://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-first-indexing
[3] https://quoracreative.com/article/mobile-marketing-statistics
