Responsive Design (Mobile-Friendly)

On April 21, 2015, Google updated its ranking algorithm to provide separate search results for mobile searches. If your website is not mobile-friendly, you’re not going rank well for mobile searches.

Times are changing. Up to 30 percent of all traffic on dental websites is from a mobile device. Mobile devices include all smartphones and some tablets.

You can’t ignore one third of your visitors. Your website needs to be mobile-friendly. Google has stated publicly that they prefer responsive websites. There are two options with mobile-friendly websites- responsive design or a mobile version.

  • PC/Laptop

    91%
  • Smartphone

    80%
  • Tablet

    47%

Responsive Design

It’s important to address the best option first. Responsive design is the concept that a website fits, or responds, to the device that’s accessing the website. If a user is viewing your dental website on an iPhone, the user experience should be different than when viewing on a desktop.

Priority of Information

When visiting a website on a mobile device, users are looking for specific information: office hours, directions, services provided. On the other hand, when visiting a website on a desktop, users are researching and looking for more general information. Non-mobile users view more pages and read more thoroughly.

Your website should display the prioritized information easily for mobile viewers. In simple terms, phone numbers and navigation should be easy to access and have big buttons since mobile devices have touch screens.

How Fast Your Website Loads

A major factor in responsive design is how fast your website loads, commonly known as pageload speed. Too often dental websites have large pictures that take too long to download on mobile devices.

Remember, most mobile devices are not on WiFi, but are on cellular networks. Image file size is often ignored and slows the loading of webpages on the device.

When we design websites, responsive design is our top priority. We’ll make sure your website loads fast and displays properly for ALL devices, mobile and non-mobile.

Mobile Versions and Mobile Apps

If your website is xyzdentalwebsite.com and you have a separate mobile site such as m. xyzdentalwebsite.com or xyzdentalwebsite.mobi, this is better than not having anything for mobile users.

Mobile apps work for other industries like online directories, entertainment/games, etc. Don’t expect your patients to download an app about dentistry.

Your website should display the prioritize information easily for mobile viewers. In simple terms, phone numbers and navigation should be easy to access and have big buttons since mobile devices have touch screens.