Get found on Google and Mobile using Responsive Web Design

Do you browse the web on a tablet or a mobile device? When was the last time you visited a site and and thought, “What on earth is this? It’s impossible to see anything on this site!” and then had to pinch-and-zoom your way around resulting in a less-than-seamless online experience? You might have even left the site out of frustration.

Many medical practices have not realized the value of creating a site that works for mobile devices.

The name of the game on the internet is delivering information as quickly and easily as possible. People want information. It should be delivered with as few clicks, pinches, and zooms as possible. Delivering a bad user experience hurts a medical practice not only in terms of delivering information, but also it hurts your SEO strategy (Search Engine Optimization).

This is a problem no medical practice should have to face.

Is mobile really all that important? Yes. Mobile now accounts for almost 40% of all online traffic and in the last 12 months, that number has nearly doubled.

Plus consider the types of searching people are doing on their mobile device. Might a patient be inclined to search for the doctor’s address enroute to an appointment? Might they need need one click calling from their smart phone?

And if a friend or PCP gives a patient a few referral options, might the patient be inclined to google the doctor right away? And, all things being equal, if one of those doctors has a site that works on mobile, another has no site and the 3rd has a site that requires the pinch-and-zoom nightmare, who do you think will be chosen? Taking advantage of mobile is key.

On SEO:

For a long time, it was thought that simply having a “mobile site” was enough. These “mobile sites” are separate watered-down versions of the main site providing less content and often bigger finger-friendly touch screen buttons.

There are obvious problems with removing content for the sake of mobile, but Google is actually docking points for “mobile sites” now. That means that no matter how well your site ranks, with the new Google algorithm, having a “mobile site” hurts you.

So what’s Google’s answer? Google’s answer is responsive web design.

And rather than going into a detailed explanation of what that means, just look at any Page Penguin site on a mobile device or resize the browser as your looking at the site. You’ll notice that the site itself reconfigures to fit the size and needs of the device. Columns and images get wider or narrower, navigation compacts into a finger-friendly pull down menu, content stacks below other content as needed.

Responsive web design removes the pinch-and-zoom nightmare and the need to maintain two separate sites. The net result: a seamless user experience that is actually often enhanced on certain devices (eg. one click calling on a smart phone).

Leveraging the capabilities of different devices makes obvious sense. Why wouldn’t you want to take full advantage of those differences especially when it’s so easy?

Making your website responsive is a no brainer. It provides a seamless user experience and it boosts your SEO strategy by taking advantage of the new Google algorithm.

It’s a great investment for your medical practice promising to please your patients and bring you more of them by getting you found on Google.

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