Is your website responsive? What does responsive mean? Responsive is a term used to declare if a website can recognize when a user is on a mobile/table device and “respond” by changing it’s design for more optimal layout/orientation for varying devices.
(Pixabay / Photo-Mix)
Why does this matter for SEO? Well, really anything that can impact a visitor’s experience can impact your rankings. For example, sites that are responsive often display call-to-action buttons (i.e. checkout buttons) differently on mobile devices. The idea is to encourage strong click-thru rates on all devices.
Let’s look at it from a technical perspective. If changing your layout to fit better on a smaller screen, like a tablet, increases your conversions for mobile visitors than that lowers your bounce rate. If your bounce rate is lower, than that contributes to benefiting your rankings. If you have Google Analytics installed on your website, than Google can monitor how your visitors come and go. If they notice visitors stay longer on your site versus your competitor, or that you have a better conversion rate, they view that as a positive ranking signal. Since SEO is a collective of efforts made, by enabling responsive features on your site you may find yourself enabling an increase in sales.