What Are The Hazards to Changing Over to Responsive Web Design?
-
We have recently re-programmed our website to Responsive Web Design. All the URLs have remained the same, all the content is unchanged. We have this new version sitting on a development server and are finding ourselves hesitant to make the changeover. Our rankings are great currently, and our question is whether or not there are any risks that we will incur by making this change. We would appreciate any advice on how to implement this change safely. Or if that's it's even possible to insure that there won't be ranking losses.
-
Wow! Thanks, Jeff. Can't tell you how much we appreciate your efforts here. It's great to have the wider based testing in addition to our own. Thanks also for your footer suggestion. We always used to have footer links and when we changed over to WordPress, because our menus are html now, we dropped them. But you offer a great reason to put them back in. We need to make a widget spot for that and I am considering some text changes for the Home page, so we won't be launching the Responsive site until those are completed. Thanks again!!!
-
Gina -
I've attached a few screenshots showing how the site displays in different widths. The site performs pretty well in the different widths, as you can see. The portfolio page works well, as does the contact information page.
I'd recommend putting in a footer navigation, as a mobile user who is on the bottom of the page might want to navigate that way instead of trying to scroll back up the top of the page.
The menu seems to work well at the tablet size and the smart phone size as well.
Personally, I think that the new responsive site layout is much better than the existing site. The live site has huge, dense blocks of text that make my eyes gloss over, overwhelmed by the volume of content.
Hope this helps!
-- Jeff
fat-eyes-desktop-version.jpg fat-eyes-tablet-version.jpg fat-eyes-iPhone-Version.jpg fat-eyes-phone-layout-menu.jpg
-
Thanks so much, Peter. We actually do have a redesign percolating but that's for later and not to be mixed up with this switch to Responsive. ;o)
-
Hi Jeff,
Here is the link to the dev site: websitetestingserver.com/fateImportant to note is that I just learned that the dev site isn't fully up to date with our current, live site: http://www.fateyes.com.
For instance, the blog directory is several months behind and some of the thumbnail images are missing. This has to be corrected. Not sure why they didn't bring it all over. So before we replace it, it will be fully updated and reviewed. Also, the social counts are missing and/or off but I imagine those will correct to the live site once the transfer is made.
Not sure if this renders your taking a look ill-timed and if it would be better to wait until I can have the guys get it tip top. Please let me know what you think. Thanks again!!! Your help is much appreciated.
-
Hi Gina
I agree with Jeff's comments. If it's a good design and works well then both your current and future customers will all benefit.
Peter
-
Thanks so much, Jeff. I would love to post the link and have you take a look. That would be a terrific help. I don't have the address but as soon as my partner gets back in, I'll ask him for it and post it here.
-
We've recently launched a number of responsive designs for eCommerce companies.
I'd love to tell you that there is zero risk in launching with the new site from a rankings perspective, but because you kept all of the content and the URL structure the same, you've mitigated a lot of the risk.
Google has come out in the past and said that it prefers a responsive design framework, as opposed to an m-dot mobile site + a desktop site, as it doesn't have to worry about duplicate content.
That said, most of the risk is going to be based on how well the responsive site actually performs when a user is on a desktop, tablet and phone.
If the design works well, and isn't confusing to the end user, then go for it.
But if the design is buggy or looks a lot worse (due to the limitations of responsive design), maybe do a bit more testing.
If you'd like, post a link to the site and I'm happy to take a look at how it looks on different devices...
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What website changes (technical) SEOs can ignore confidently? Google's perspective!
Hi community members, I am looking after SEO at our company and there are lots of changes happening about our website; especially technical changes. It's hard for me to look after every deployment of the website like change of server location, etc. We generally agree that every change related to website must be notified by SEO to understand the ranking fluctuation and how search engines welcome them. I just wonder what technical deployments of a website I could confidently ignore to save time and give a go ahead to technical team without interrupting or waiting for my approval. Thanks
Web Design | | vtmoz1 -
We use bigcommerce platform and want to access the bigcommerce server to change the way our product images display
Hi We use bigcommerce and want to chage the way we display multiple images for our products. At the moment in bigcommerce you switch between images by clicking the next image, we want the images to change when we hover the curser over the image. Does anyone know how to do this ? Regards Adrienne
Web Design | | CostumeD0 -
Should Our Mobile Responsive Version of our Ecommerce Site include the on Page content to Help with Rankings
Hello All, We are soon to launch our new redesigned website along with a mobile responsive version but i have noticed we currently don't include the on page Content we have on the mobile version which we have on the desktop version to help with rankings etc. I am not sure how google does mobile research with regards to rankings. We have designed our responsive version to be as user friendly as possible at the expense of having to much clutter/content but I am wondering now , if we will rank on mobile if all our on page content isn't present. Just wondered if we should include it at the bottom of the pages with say a "Read more" extension to help avoid clutter? Any advice greatly appreciated thanks Pete
Web Design | | PeteC120 -
Javascript with Responsive Web Design
The company I work for are looking to go responsive which is high up the list on our development plans. Further on down the development plan they want to add more javascript into the website. Is this recommended as we plan to go responsive ?
Web Design | | jmurphy70 -
Major URL changes in new site launch
Hey Guys - we recently launched a new website for a client. Prior, all of their URLs were dynamic via an old-school Cold Fusion CMS. We basically had to rewrite 90% of the sites URLs (site is like 300 pages). The new URLs are SEO friendly and the on-page SEO is strong; but the page rank/authority is starting from scratch from these pages and placement has decreased more most of the new pages with competitive keywords. We set up all of the 301 redirects properly and are actively monitoring in Google Webmaster Tools. **Anything else I can do to lessen the pain and get these pages higher page rank/authority sooner rather than later?**Thanks for all of your help.
Web Design | | NobleStudios0 -
Web Designer Needed
So I feel like I've almost convinced my boss to hire out a re-design for our website (which is SORELY needed.) I'm at the step where I need to start finding quotes and site builders. I want a responsive design site built modern and professional... Love the moz site but not responsive enough. My current favorite example is at www.hasoffers.com Does anybody have any suggestions of where to go? And as a bonus, if anybody is brave enough to ballpark what a site like this would cost that would be awesome. Doesn't have to be exact or even that close... Thanks for any advice given.
Web Design | | jesse-landry0 -
Wordpress Designer - Have you heard of Jay Hafling?
We are currently browsing around to have a new site built for us as we are not happy with the current one. I checked out webdevstudio and it looks like they build quality sites, but they told me they aren't taking on small projects like mine currently. So browsing around I found this designer from the Ukraine with a nice site and nice portfolio. I am wondering if anyone has worked with him, and maybe to get some opinions on his work? I don't want to make the wrong choice here.. What do you guys think? http://www.jayhafling.com
Web Design | | DemiGR1