The term “responsiveness” has been used more and more over the last few years. Several times we hear about “responsive websites”, but do we understand what they really consist of? Or rather, what is their importance? A responsive website is able to adapt to any format and provide the best user experience. In this article, we explain all this in a better way.
What is a responsive website design?
A responsive design is one that allows web pages to present their information and all of their visuals in the same way on all devices. Surely, you’ve already accessed a website through your smartphone and found that the information was disorganized, the menus scattered, and in general, the look was confusing. In this case, we can conclude that such website did not have a responsive design.
Regardless of accessing a website from a computer, tablet or smartphone, its format and functions will always be the same if there is responsiveness. The aim is to provide the user with the best possible experience while browsing the web pages.
How to check if a website has a responsive design?
It’s quite simple. We can check if a website has a responsive design through different ways. The most common is using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, which will analyze your site and see how it looks on a mobile device.
You can also use another Google tool, PageSeed Insights. In this case, you must enter the URL of your website, and again, Google will analyze content such as text, graphics and images. After verifying your site’s functionality on a mobile device, it will provide suggestions to implement to improve your site’s responsiveness.
By analyzing the results that both tools provide you, you will be able to conclude whether or not your site is responsive. In addition, you can take advantage of the recommendations given to you to make improvements.
How important is a responsive design?
As time progressed and mobile devices evolved, it began to be seen that most website traffic came from mobile devices. When a large percentage of visitors use tablets or smartphones to access websites, it becomes essential to focus on their responsiveness. After all, we want as many people as possible to view our website as it is, with all its functions and elements.
For example, several studies prove that a responsive website generates more sales than a non-responsive one. Users looking to shop online want fast, functional platforms with properly organized information for easy use. If you enter a confusing site, with unformatted images or fonts, for example, you will certainly leave the web page in just a few seconds.
Therefore, a responsive website helps to establish credibility, reliability and facilitates the process of converting customers, hence its importance.
What are the advantages of having a responsive design?
Let’s now look in more detail at all the factors that contribute to such credibility and ease of conversion. Thus, a responsive design has the following advantages:
- Increases the speed of the web page;
The loading speed of a website is a ranking factor for Google. Therefore, this can determine the number of visitors you receive. In addition, for the user himself, a fast website is much more advantageous. If a web page takes a long time to load, there is a high probability that the visitor will leave without analyzing the information or making a purchase.
- Google favors responsive websites
The more responsive your website is, the higher the Google ranking position it will appear in. So, make sure you have a responsive website to reach more people and increase organic traffic.
- Reduce bounce rate
Having a responsive website is half the battle to keep users on the website for longer. If your site is attractive and, more importantly, functional, the bounce rate goes down. In other words, instead of quickly jumping in and out of your site, users stay longer.
It is important to avoid this bounce rate, as the higher it is, the more customers you end up losing. Also, a very high bounce rate can be interpreted by Google as a sign of irrelevant content.
- Improves user experience:
If a user is satisfied with your site, the greater the probability of buying your products or consuming your content. This way, you can gain new customers or attentive followers. So make sure your site is fast, clean, and visually appealing on all devices.
What is the difference between a responsive website and a mobile version?
Many people tend to confuse the two concepts. A responsive website is one that adapts to any type of device, maintaining its design and functionality. The mobile version is different from the original. Its structure, graphics and images are exclusively designed for mobile devices. In other words, the content is the same, but the presentation is different.
Therefore, websites with responsive design are created to adapt to all formats and devices, maintaining the same presentation and content. The mobile version, on the other hand, creates a structure and presentation different from the original, keeping only the content.
Thus, we conclude that a responsive website brings numerous advantages to different websites, and is therefore something increasingly necessary.
