Our last blog generated a lot of questions, and from those questions it was pretty easy to see that some more information was  needed on the different types of mobile websites. So with this one we decided to try to share some intel on the different mobile friendly technologies that can be used to make your site compliant with the massive changes Google is making in April. Those technologies are mobile websites and responsive web design.

The Wrong way, Mobile sites.

Now, if you have a mobile site you will usually be mobile friendly compliant. Mobile sites in general provide a very simplified site with little more than buttons for some links. While this was a great step in the right direction in the past, it is now a very outdated way to deliver content. There are multiple issues with mobile sites, the first being detection. Basically there is code in your site that detects certain phones and tablets, if your phone or tablet is supported this is fine, however sometimes it isn’t, particularly with new devices, and this can cost you customers.   Advertising can also be problematic on mobile site with advertisers being under-served or over-served cheapening the content on your site. The final issue with mobile sites is the need for secondary code, which means on a Google search from a phone, the pages the search engines look at will ONLY show code from the mobile site. This lack of code and content can seriously hurt your rankings and your traffic. If you have this style of mobile site, it’s not the end of the world and you should be fine in the short term with the new changes at Google, but when the time comes to update your site make sure this issue is resolved.

The Right Way, Responsive Design

The easiest way to highlight the difference between mobile sites and responsive design is that there is one site and once set of code for responsive designs vs the two separate sites for mobile site style. Think of it as one large magazine vs 2 small ones. 30 rnds at once is always better than 2 15’s with a mag change. Google has officially stated that responsive design IS THE PROPER way to be mobile friendly, this should be the only reason anyone needs to adopt responsive design but there is more to it than that.   Responsive designs are flexible and they look great regardless of screen size or resolution this flexibility was the original reason we started focusing on this type of site years ago. In addition to the flexibility the responsive style also allows dynamically sized ads, which means advertising banners won’t dominate or get lost in a site. The statistics on ad engagement are truly amazing on mobile devices, with 85% of all users noticing ads on mobile devices which is great and can be used to gain more advertising for your site.

The Verdict

With the sweeping Google changes a proper mobile website is more important than ever, getting a great responsive website together is an essential step for any business. Any reputable design and development firm will build a responsive design at no extra cost as it is the new standard in design. If you’d like to speak with true experts then contact us today to get your new site rolling. We have a team of the best designers, developers, and seo experts to help you.

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