With so much attention given to mobile website optimization and responsive design in the past year, it’s surprising how many websites are still not responsive. In fact, only about 11-18% of websites utilize responsive design.
If you’re really late to the game, here’s a brief timeline of this year’s major mobile events:
February 26, 2015 – In an uncharacteristic move, Google announced a pending algorithm update to reward mobile-friendly websites, scheduled for April 2015.
April 21, 2015 – Google released the highly anticipated algorithm update, dubbed “Mobilegeddon”.
May 5, 2015 – Google announced that for the first time, more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on desktop computers.
In addition to the direct link between mobile-friendliness and SEO success, consider these stats:
Digital media consumption over the past four years has grown more rapidly on tablets (1,721%) and smartphones (394%) compared to desktop (37%). (ComScore)
9 out of 10 smartphone searches end in some type of action.
50% of healthcare buyers use smartphones to research products and vendors.
Still Not Convinced?
If Google’s SEO incentives and the rapidly increasing mobile usage haven’t swayed you to implement responsive design, consider how amazing responsive sites look on all devices!
Clarity Quest switched our site over to a responsive theme back in 2014. If we hadn’t, our site would look something like the non-responsive example below when viewed on a smartphone. Compare that to our responsive mobile site. See the difference? Images are sharper, text is bigger, links are clickable, and the site is overall more user-friendly on smartphones. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, mobile users won’t hesitate to return to the search results and find your competitors’ responsive sites.