What is a responsive wordpress theme?
Getting to the bottom line, a responsive site is one that changes it's look the way it should on whatever device it is being viewed on.
Responsive WordPress design is a hot topic many WordPress designers talk about. And if you think about the great importance of responsiveness and all the hullaballoo swirling around it, the sheer number of websites that are still not responsive. At this point, with the tremendous growth of mobile usage, all websites should get with the program and become responsive to give them the ability to attend to every user's "screen size needs."
As Smartphone and tablet use quickly expands, so does the real need for mobile-friendly sites.
If you want to make the most of your website's SEO, making a mobile-friendly web page is becoming an absolute necessity.
Mobile device sales is higher that the sale of desktop computers, and use of mobile devices on the internet is expected to beat out desktop internet usage by 2014. It absolutely makes sense that searches on mobile devices will outpace desktop searches in the very near future as well.
Since about 67 percent of users state that they are somewhat more likely to purchase from a mobile-friendly website, E-Commerce websites that rely on SEO should definitely begin making the change to mobile-friendly websites, and especially to responsive web design.
The choice of whether to opt for a responsive WordPress website or a separate website is a hotly contested topic. However, when you get down to it, both of the choices have their plusses and minuses.
The option that is correct for your business depends on a whole bunch of factors, like the main purpose of the website, the intended audience, and whether or not SEO is a main factor.
If SEO is something you're thinking about, here are three reasons why a responsive website is the correct choice for your mobile SEO strategy.
Google recommends responsive web design. of all searches being done, when Google gives advice, search marketers should listen. Google says that responsive web design is its most recommended mobile configuration, and they go even further and refer to responsive web design as the web design industry best practice.
In part, it's because sites with responsive design have only one URL and also use the same HTML, no matter the device, which makes it easier and more efficient for Google to organize, crawl and index. Compare this with a completely separate mobile site which has a totally different URL and different HTML than its desktop counterpart, which requires Google to slowly crawl and index a few versions of the same website.
Also, Google loves responsive web design because of the fact that content that resides on one WordPress website and a single URL is a lot easier for users to share, interact with, and hotlink to than content that lives in several spots.
Take for example a Smartphone user who shares video from a mobile website with a friend on Facebook who then accesses that content using a home computer, which results in that user seeing a a simple mobile site on their home computer. This creates a bad experience for the user, and because of the large amount of emphasis Google is now placing on good user experience as a factor that helps your ranking, this is necessary to think about with regards to SEO.
One site, Many Devices
One of the key important things of responsive web design is that a well crafted responsive website can give a really good user-experience across all sorts of devices and screen sizes. This is an important aspect, since it is unattainable to foresee all the gadgets and screen sizes people will utilize to access your site. A website that works well despite these unknowns will offer a better and more consistent user-experience than an independent mobile site that is meant for a specific device and screen size.
Let's take the following example. Someone searches for a product on their Smartphone during a break at work. They find a website that has the product they're looking for, and decide to continue researching this product on the website after they head home for the evening. The only problem is, when they arrive home, they will use their home computer rather than their Smartphone.
If the site in this illustration is responsive, our mystery shopper will have a great user-experience when moving between mobile to desktop because they will get the same website on their desktop as they saw on their mobile device. But, if the site is a dedicated mobile website, this person will become disillusioned with the fact that they have to locate the desktop version of the website, and locate the mystery widget all over again.
More Simple to Maintain
Using a a separate desktop and mobile site requires having separate SEO campaigns. Managing one site and one SEO campaign is far easier than managing two sites and two SEO campaigns. This is a key advantage a responsive WordPress website has over a separate mobile site.
That said, there absolutely benefits to crafting a mobile-specific SEO plan, such as optimizing for terms that are more commonly going to be used when a user is searching for something on their Smartphone.
For instance, a person performing a mobile search for a restaurant may be more inclined to use the word "nearby" in their search bar. However, a separate mobile site is not a necessity for a mobile SEO policy, and there's no reason why these kinds of mobile-specific key words can't be utilized in a responsive WordPress website too..
Conclusion
A tightly constructed responsive design is loved by Google, it allows one responsive WordPress theme site to provide a great user-experience over multiple kinds of devices, and it can also make managing your SEO strategy a lot simpler. For these reasons, web design that's responsive is absolutely the best selection for your mobile SEO strategy.