Responsive Web Design (RWD) is an approach of laying-out and coding a website such that the website provides an optimal viewing experience — ease of reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling — across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones).

Search Engines Love Responsive Sites
The primary goal of a search engine is to give you the best answer to whatever question you have asked it. Modern search engines look at more than the words on your website pages they also look at how accessible the site pages are. Over the last few years the search engines have measured the benefits to the viewer of responsive websites and give higher ratings based on responsive features being present.

1) Reach more audience

There are many studies that came out since early last year (2013) showing the dramatic rise in the number of people who use their mobiles and tablets for all their online activities (social networking, shopping, researching, searching google etc).

Two of these studies are published by Google (here and here) with some very interesting findings, the most important are noted below and summarized in this custom infographic:

Appearing on smartphones is critical for local businesses. 94% of smartphone users look for local information on their phone and 84% take action as a result, such as making a purchase or contacting the business.
77% of users have researched a product or service on their device, and 46% of smartphone users have made a purchase on their phone
67% of people start shopping on one device and continue to another
65% of sequential shopping occasions are started on a smartphone
34% of people turn to the screen that’s closest when looking for information.

What does this mean for businesses? If you don’t offer your users or potential customers a good experience on the device of their choice, you may lose visitors or customers.

What is the difference between a mobile website and a responsive website?

Many people tend to confuse a mobile friendly website with a responsive website but that’s not exactly the same. A mobile friendly website looks good on mobile devices but may not look so good on devices with bigger resolutions.

In the majority of the cases, there is the desktop version of a website and then there are dedicated pages (usually on an m.subdomain) optimized for mobile which are different from those shown on the desktop.

While these websites look good on the desktop and mobile, if you view them on other resolutions the user experience is not so good.

With responsive websites there is only one set of pages (and one set of code) for a website and what is changing is the way those pages adapt in the different devices.

SEO Benefits For Responsive Web Design

Google Says responsive designs is the way to. If Google says ‘this is the way to do (something)’ you would do well to listen to the “friendly” advice.

We rely heavily on search engine results and traffic to drive our lead generation efforts, so why go against what the Big G says? They quite clearly state that responsive design is their recommended configuration for mobile site development. Just listen. You can be sure that there’s some SEO value in there.

Eliminates Duplicate Content

One of the primary issues with building a separate mobile site is the fact it is a ‘standalone’ site. Each m. version of your page is considered a separate entity in Google, meaning that you may unknowingly be creating duplicate content. Although Google claims that a mobile version with the same content as a master site won’t be hit with the Panda stick, it still means you have duplicate content on the web and you run the risk of serving the wrong version at some point.

Stronger Link Building

Unlike a mobile and desktop version of a site, a responsive site has a single URL for each page. This means that any link to your master site is in essence a link to your mobile site as well. There’s no diluting of PageRank and you’re building a stronger backlink profile on both desktop and mobile search at the same time. SEO win!

Reduces Bounce Rate

I think we’ve all experienced it at one point or another? Opened a website on our mobile device and faced with a lot of horizontal scrolling and teeny tiny copy. The endless battle with your mouse tracker or swipe screen coupled with the necessary squinting is enough to cause you to close the site and try the next one. Hello, bounce rate!

Google uses bounce rate as a signal of user satisfaction with results. If a person is closing your site after a few seconds or not clicking through to any other pages, your bounce rate is going to rise and Google will drop your rankings for those key search terms, which naturally results in less traffic. A responsive design can help reduce your bounce rate as people are able to see that the site is designed for best user experience, irrespective of device. Navigation is optimised for mobile and all page elements scale according to the screen size.

Reduces Page Load Speed

According to Google, the average mobile page load speed today is over 7 seconds. Google prefers mobile pages to load in one second or less. A responsive website design does not require queries to redirect users to a different URL (the mobi version of the page) and thus it significantly reduces the load time of the page.

While it isn't expressly known how much of a direct impact mobile page load speed has on rankings, Google is stressing its importance because of the impact on user experience - and what is good for user experience is good for rankings. Again, who are we to question?

Improves Mobile Search Rankings

This is another example of the ‘Google Says’ type suggestion. In addition to recommending responsive design for mobile, it has also claimed that it ranks sites optimised for mobile higher in mobile searches.

Considering that mobile search is set to overtake desktop search queries in 2015. (Another bold predication, this time made by analyst firm BIA/Kelsey) it is probably a good idea to get a head start on your competition-to-be in mobile search by implementing a responsive website now.

Switching to responsive design will help you rank better in mobile (and possibly desktop) search as you continue to build backlinks to a master site and provide your visitor with the best user experience for their preferred device. With all statistics and trends pointing to this becoming the leading source of website traffic, we highly recommend considering responsive design if you are looking to continued success with search marketing

Source: https://www.todhost.com/blog/time-to-switch-to-responsive-designs.html