Technology moves at the speed of light, it seems. When you own, run, and maintain a website, it’s important to stay on top of your browser updates. But my website was built recently, not in the stone age. Why do I have to update it? 

Though you may have built and launched your website in 2017, if you haven’t touched it since then, you’re falling behind. From 2017-2018 alone, Google released 8 updates to Chrome. Firefox on average releases a new update every 60 days. So while your 2017 website holds past and at-the-time updates, it’s missing out on tens of hundreds of new innovations, security protocols, and ability to render modern code. 

From a website owner’s standpoint, keeping your browser up-to-date helps with a host of things. First and foremost, your SEO will be much more successful. Updates bring about changes in search algorithms, which can help or hurt your site’s visibility. Google Algorithm loves updated, quality content. By allowing SEO to slip through the cracks of an out-of-date browser, you might as well be handing your search ranking to your competitors. 

Another notable reason to update your browser is to keep your page responsive to mobile. As of 2021, 52% of website traffic is mobile. UX and UI builders are now calling for site development to be mobile first, desktop second. With this, cool features can be added to your website, such as integrations or gamification, which increase the user conversion rate. As well, this can help render coding techniques. 

One of the most essential arguments for updating your browser is to ensure the online security of your site. Though you may not hold extremely personal, liable information; if you truly care for your customer’s safety and satisfaction, you’ll update the browser. 

Think of your browser like a car. If you don’t take it to the shop for tune-up, little by little, problems will arise. Fortunately, updating your browser is free and only takes a few minutes at most.