Go Responsive…or Go Home

“Responsive” design is a relatively new concept in web programming and refers to websites that adjust automatically to fit the screen size of various devices. A responsive site scales seamlessly from a wide-screen computer monitor down to a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone display. This eliminates the need to scroll or zoom in to view web content and makes for a much better overall user experience on any device.

Many of the websites that Articulate Solutions has created recently (including Gilroy Welcome Center and Gilroy Foundation) are responsive designs. However, a recent change by Google makes responsive design no longer just “nice to have,” but almost imperative for any business that relies on mobile traffic.

Basically, Google has changed its mobile search algorithm to give higher ranking to sites that it deems “mobile-friendly.” If you don’t have a responsive site, you’ll fall lower in the search engine rankings, and it will be harder for people to find your company’s website when they’re searching from mobile devices.

So what should you do? First, use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to see whether your current site is considered “mobile-friendly.” If it’s not, and you think that potential customers might be searching for your business on mobile devices, then it’s probably time to think about updating your website to a responsive design. Sometimes it’s possible to keep the same basic design elements and just do a mobile makeover. Or you can take this as an opportunity to do a complete refresh and build a more modern and exciting site—that’s what we did with our own Articulate Solutions website!

Contact us if you’d like to discuss your current website and how the Articulate Solutions team can help make it more “mobile-friendly.”