Responsive design or mobile website - which is better to rank in Google

I am in the middle of revamping my website - http://calanceus.com which is a responsive site. Since Google nowadays ranks websites based on their mobile friendliness, I am a little confused if a responsive design is considered as mobile-friendly by search engines such as Google. And also, if there is a need of mobile redirection - like redirecting the users to m.mywebsite.com version of the URL?

 

Hi Silvia,

Responsive design is " mobile friendly " and no need for a mobile redirection to a mobile version of your website. Mobile friendliness is assessed the same whether responsive design or mobile url per Google.

As long as a website passes the Google " mobile friendly " test whether mobile url or responsive design it is classified as " mobile friendly ".

The article " Mobile Website Design Becomes an Important Google Ranking Factor " has a link to the Google mobile friendly test in the section of Question # 1.

Good luck,

Private message if you have any further questions after reading the article.

Braulio

 

Mobile-friendliness = responsive design

 

Responsive Design will make your website Mobile Friendly without any redirection. So you should be fine keeping it the way that it is.

Good Luck to You.

 

Responsive Design also allow mobile size. When one template allow all size then it Responsive template.

 

You may or may not use a different url.
If you would use a different url, there are some requirements specified on the Google document.

 

Responsive Design is better, surely

if you need a mobile site creator, let's try my script - Awesome Mobile Site Builder (AMSB) - I can setup a free trial for you

 

Quite good explanation, thanks B.

 

When it comes to rankings remember that it has only (let's say) a little effect, which is usually not noticeable regarding mobile-friendly update. I already noticed it these past few days in mobile search results. Which means a quality website that is not responsive still ranking on top of searches.

 

If your site possesses responsive design then that's fine. It'll operate correctly upon mobile devices and do not ever deal with ranking. Do not need redirect upon m. mywebsite. com

 

Responsive design is better all the time. Mobile version is also supported in Responsive design.

 

Hi Silvia.

This one's a no-brainer actually. I'd go for responsive web design over a mobile website. Why? Well, it's quite simple.

If you have a mobile website, the domain will likely be something like m.example.com, while your non-mobile domain is example.com.

Basically, these are two separate domains, and you'll need to do SEO and marketing on BOTH of them. Not to mention that you'll have to redirect your users as well. There are problems arising from this, like when a desktop user tries to access a mobile link and is unable to do so.

As for responsive design, you're hitting two birds with one stone: one website, one SEO, one domain. So yes, RWD is better in both SEO and for your users.

 

For SEO purposes it doesnt matter whether you go for a responsive or mobile design.
Google is smart. If your website works on a mobile you will rank well, otherwise you will get penalized.
However remember to keep the loading time as low as possible because thats another relevant ranking factor.
Some people do 4 different designs for one page in preload images in 8 different sizes to match any device. Dont do that.

 

Google itself provides mobile test tool which will let your know if there are some issues with your website or not. You can go to
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

If your website is responsive it does not mean there are no mobile issues. Check your website from above tool and you will get the entire picture clear.

 

You should understand clearly- what is mobile friendly design? key features of mobilegeddon? what things to do?
you can get a clear understanding here
http://marvinftp.com/graftene-beta/new-mobile-update-from-google-whats-there-to-know.php

 

I would suggest to make it responsive, but be careful and pay attention to performance issues. Low skilled developers often forget about this crucial for mobile devices point.

 

This https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

 

Responsive is fine, just make sure when you make changes to your CSS - you aren't affecting your responsiveness.

 

Responsive is fine and the best

 

Well, I believe that having a responsive design is almost equivalent to having a mobile friendly site, because it is designed for portable devices, meaning mobile is included there. When it comes to ranking though there are a lot of factors google consider. Website responsiveness would be just one of those but like what I've said it is just a ranking factor like everything else; like content, site structure, url structure, page loading, navigation etc.