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What is mobile responsiveness?

3 min to read

Mobile responsiveness is the ability of a website to adapt to smartphones, tablets, laptops, and (sometimes) smartwatches.  Since users interact across several touchpoints, websites today have no option but to optimize for a better user experience; if they don’t, they will fall behind their competitors.

Key Takeaways:
  • Mobile responsiveness is essential for a positive user experience
    • Google prioritizes ease of use, which is why mobile-optimized sites rank higher.
  • A mobile-responsive website adapts to any screen size
    • It uses flexible layouts and changes formatting for computers, tablets, and smartphones.
  • If you want your website to be found and used, you need mobile responsiveness
    • Repeat visitors are normally higher on mobile-optimized sites compared to websites that don't consider different devices.
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What is mobile responsiveness?

What does “mobile-responsive” mean?

Mobile-responsive websites change their layouts—including images and font sizes—to fit the viewer’s screen. You’ll often see website URLs with “m.” or something similar if you’re on the mobile version. 

A visitor accessing websites on their smartphone has a similar experience to desktop in terms of functionality, even if the layout isn’t identical, meaning that users can complete actions on the go.

Why does my website need to be mobile-responsive?

Mobile-responsive websites have become necessary for several reasons, including:

  • User experience: Navigating non-responsive websites leads to higher bounce rates, whereas users are less likely to abandon a website optimized for the device that they’re using.

  • Search engine rankings: Google doesn’t rank highly non-responsive websites, meaning that good information and content are only one-half of the equation.

  • Staying competitive: Almost every major company in most industries focuses on mobile-responsive sites and apps. If your website isn’t user-friendly on all devices, competitors can easily gain a significant advantage and lead the market.

How does a responsive website work? 

Responsive websites use a combination of techniques, including:

  • Flexible layouts: Elements rearrange themselves for the screen resolution they have.

  • Scalable images: Images keep the same resolution on all devices, but they might have different sizes.

  • Media queries: Special code snippets tell the website to switch layouts and do other things depending on where you view them.

Are all websites mobile-responsive?

Mobile-responsive websites are the norm in most industries, but desktop-optimized sites used to be the status quo. More companies are focusing on mobile optimization now to bring themselves up to industry standards, which has largely been forced upon them by innovative competitors. 

How do I know if my website is mobile-responsive?

Google has a free Mobile-Friendly Test tool, where you can check if your website is mobile-responsive. The tool then analyzes each page and outlines how mobile-friendly your website is.

Conclusion

Since customers interact with websites and apps from more than one device, mobile responsiveness is essential and companies that don’t heed warnings will struggle to keep up.

Ensuring a positive experience for all users will give you a better chance of remaining competitive and closing more sales, whereas ignoring mobile responsiveness will lead to you losing customers.

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