SEO glossary: Responsive web design

What exactly is Responsive Web Design?

In responsive web design, all elements of a website are prepared so that they are ideally displayed later on, depending on the screen size and/or device. Thus, a website is ideally displayed on both large desktop computers and small tablets and smartphones.

 

In terms of usability, a responsive web design is therefore indispensable and a must when projects are newly built or rebuilt.

 

Where website owners used to have to build different website types for desktop and mobile devices, today there is only one in responsive web design.

 

Important to know: Responsive web design also plays an important role in mobile search engine optimization today. Because search engines like Google require that a user-friendly RESPONSIVE DESIGN is available. It has become a fixed standard in recent years.

 

What are the advantages of Responsive Web Design?

 

Below are important advantages of a responsive web design:

 

• Users experience a consistently positive user experience when visiting a website with responsive design. user experience. This is because the complete content (text, imagesvideos, etc.) adapts ideally to the screen size so that it is easy to see.

 

• At the same time, this is also reflected in the statistics of a website. Because if it is friendly and offers a responsive web design, visitors stay longer. And that is positive feedback from Google and Co.

 

• But responsive web design also brings a great advantage for webmasters, editors and content managers. Whenever content is prepared for publishing, it does not have to be adapted to multiple website versions. This saves a lot of work, as the maintenance effort is significantly lower.

 

• Meanwhile, search engines like Google require that websites have a responsive web design. If this is not the case, ranking losses may result. After all, the goal of Google and Co. is to offer high-quality content for corresponding devices.

 

How is Responsive Web Design implemented?

To implement responsive web design on a website, the two standards HTML5 and CSS3 are used. So-called media queries are used, which retrieve the necessary information from the user's device. This includes, among other things, resolution and display size.

 

This is the only way to adapt the content ideally to the user's display so that it is clearly visible.

 

Example: If CSS3 is used for the responsive design, the media queries query "screen" and "print", among others. There is a direct link between the HTML page and the stylesheet. As soon as the information has been compared and it is clear how large the display is, the website size is adjusted accordingly. The content is output in the modified design, i.e. in the correct size.