Google announces that it will reward responsive websites

Being responsive is no longer an option, at least if you want to be visible on Google. They have warned that pages with mobile usability problems will lose positions in their search engine. We already warned you in our post about this year's web design trends . And in case you didn't believe it, Google announced on February 26 that websites that are not optimized for mobile devices will be penalized in SEO positioning ( see here ) or in other words, all those pages that are adapted to mobile devices will be prioritized . This doesn't mean that your website will disappear without a responsive design, but it will be less competitive. You're probably taking it more seriously now, and no wonder, because there's even an official date. The change will start to be noticed on April 21 , which means that you have until that day to correct all the problems that your website generates when viewed on different devices. To do this, Google has provided a new tool that checks if your page is correctly optimized for viewing on smartphones, that is, if it includes responsive design. If being responsive was already a fundamental factor for SEO (remember that at the end of 2014, Google incorporated the "mobile-friendly" label in mobile search results), now we can say that it is one of its pillars. With this, the Internet giant makes it clear that the most important thing is to improve the user experience, since in practice it will be translated into showing much more relevant and higher quality results for the visitor. In this way, the user will expand their options for purchasing or reading content, since they will find pages that are much more comfortable for viewing on mobile devices. Google already makes this clear on its blog:

“When it comes to searching on mobile devices, users need to get the most relevant and timely results. As more people use mobile devices to access the Internet, our algorithms need to adapt to these usage patterns.”

In addition, Google has sent messages to all webmasters warning about this, so as not to catch anyone by surprise. In the warning message, it detects all the serious errors on the websites you have registered regarding mobile usability and offers several tools to correct them.

Why does Google reward responsive websites?

Responsive design has become established as one of the best practices in web design in recent times, but Google has already made it a mandatory requirement, at least if we want to be present on the first pages of search results. But why does Google prioritize pages adapted to all devices? It is a fact that users who access the Internet are multi-screen users, that is, they are completely familiar with web browsing on different devices. Therefore, ignoring this does not seem to be the best idea. In addition, the data confirms that in Spain there are 53 million mobile phone lines, while the population is reduced to 47.2 million. And if that were not enough, our country takes the bronze medal when it comes to sales made through smartphones in Europe. Everything indicates that Google continues to maintain its philosophy of improving the browsing experience, something that you should also keep in mind if you have an online store, since the most direct consequence of your website being responsive is the increase in sales and conversion rate.

How to know if your website is responsive?

The first thing you want to know is whether your website meets the requirements or not. Google makes it easy for us: by accessing its new tool , you can enter your URL and click on Analyze . If your website is not suitable, it will show you a screen similar to this:

But that's not all. It's advisable to continue analyzing your page in Google Webmaster Tools . In the Mobile Usability option found under Search Traffic , all the exact errors on your web pages will appear, offering you some solutions for improving them. If you don't see it very clearly, we recommend that you update your theme or use another template that guarantees mobile adaptability.

Tips for your responsive website

We give you some tips that you should keep in mind when planning your responsive design:

- Avoid files and effects that cannot be played on mobile devices, especially Flash content.

- Check that your website can be viewed correctly without having to zoom.

- Remove horizontal scroll.

- Includes a sitemap for the responsive version.

- Avoid pop-ups.

- Links must be adequately spaced so that the user does not have problems when clicking on them.

- Use a font with an appropriate size so that it is completely legible.

- Avoid having your images cut off, they should always be seen in full.

In short, ' adapt' or die, and not just because Google says so, but because it's what your users demand. You no longer have an excuse to offer your visitors the best possible experience from any device they browse from. If you liked the post, share it on your social networks!