If your dental practice website is not optimised for mobile, Google may highlight this in search results

Another official statement from Google advises responsive design in preference to separate mobile websites

A new statement from Google has again advised that responsive design is their recommendation for modern websites – and not a separate mobile website.

In fact they are now showing warning messages in search results where websites are not correctly optimised for use on mobile devices. This includes incorrect re-directs for old-style mobile sites, use of Flash etc. You can read more about the latest Google updates by following the link to their official blog below:

Google applies warning in search results for old-fashioned websites

To read the specific recommendation about responsive design, please see the section headed “Developing modern multi-device websites” and also take a look at our earlier blog article on the subject:

Why responsive design beats a separate mobile website

Matt Cutts, Google’s main spokesperson on how websites rank in search results, has also been an advocate of the responsive design technique since it first came to the fore over 18 months ago. Sensing the direction in which Google was moving, Dental Media began rolling out responsive design at the same time and now all of our new websites for dentists are provided with this option.

Why is there so much fuss about multi-device optimisation?

For those of us who are close to the web and its associated technologies, mobile optimisation is nearly second nature. However, there are still many people, including dentists, who use the web in a “traditional” sense i.e. primarily from the browser on their desk-top PC. Whilst this is still the main way in which users are accessing websites, the volume of searches from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, is increasing in leaps and bounds. We now often see mobile traffic in excess of 35% and sometimes in excess of 40%. Simply put, if your website is not configured to provide a good user experience for mobile visitors, then chances are they will simply look elsewhere.

Google is supporting website owners who provide better user experience for mobile users with improved search ranking positions. It now also seems that they are actively highlighting websites which they feel are not complying. So all round, there are clear advantages to getting this right.

What does it cost to go responsive?

Building a website with a responsive design does take quite a lot more time than building a traditional version. The designer has to think about how the site will appear at different dimensions and then test the configuration on multiple devices. Hence there is an associated cost.

However, this is possibly less than you might imagine – an additional fee of around £500 for new websites designed by Dental Media.

Summary

New websites should be designed with all user devices in mind, whether traditional desk-top PC, tablet or smartphone. Google has made it clear that websites which are designed with this in mind will be treated preferentially to those which are not. Indeed sites which will not function well on mobile will now be flagged as such in search results.

Google is also backing responsive design as a clear favourite over old-style mobile websites and this really should be the technique of choice for new dental practice web design.

If you would like to discuss optimising your dentist website for mobile devices, please call our team on 01332 672548 for no-obligation advice.