Here at i3MEDIA, we make it our business to remain up-to-date with the latest industry news and trends. Of course, one of the most current updates is the much talked about Google Mobile First update that the search engine has already begun to roll out. This coincides with the news that starting from July this year, page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile searches.
This new update has been named the ‘speed update’ and, with mobile devices capturing up to 65% of the total digital time, it's about time that greater importance is placed on mobile. As a web development company, this is something that we have always done by championing mobile-dedicated websites. This change is said to bring in a new era of tech but you may be wondering why exactly this is important. Well, we can tell you.
Why is it Important?
This change is important because users are demanding a faster mobile experience from brands. According to research, the average time for a US retail mobile site is around 6.90 seconds, which is slow when you consider that Christian Coleman holds the world record for the 60m sprint, clocking in at 6.34 seconds.
A load time like this is far too slow and 40% of mobile users say that anything more than three seconds is too long. In fact, 53% will abandon a site if it takes longer than three seconds to load, so who knows how users cope with such a slow speed.
When a page does take longer to load, not only will users chose to avoid it, but the rankings of the site may also decrease. This is because Google crawlers will visit the site and not think it is good enough to be ranked well. Ultimately, the faster the page loads, the higher the score.
Page speed is a key element of your landing page and, according to Google, it will have a great impact on your score and a high percentage of people have yet to realise this. Their landing page experiences fail to convert and sites will appear lower and lower down the score. So, what do you need to do to stop your site falling down the list?
What Do You Need to Do?
Firstly, you’re going to need to consider a number of user experience metrics. You will also need to ensure that you have a decent server; this is paramount to your success.
For mobile sites, you will also need to make sure that all images are properly displayed and correctly sized in order to avoid taking an unnecessary amount of mobile data from users. According to research, 80% of internet users own a smartphone and use them daily to surf the web. With most people using mobile data every day, you can only guess as to how much they are using. This is why it is best to give users the right sized images in order to help them save their data and improve the speed at which the images will download and show on their site.
How Can You Check Your Site Speed?
This latest update will only affect sites and pages that offer the slowest experience to their users, so this may not affect you at all. However, if you are concerned about your mobile page speed, there are a number of ways to check it.
Some of the tools that can help to review your website's page speed performance include:
- Chrome User Experience Report
- Lighthouse
- Page Speed Insights
Ensuring that your site is ready for mobile first should be a top priority for any web development company. We have been – and will continue – providing solutions to get our clients ready for the upcoming changes. To find out more about mobile first solutions, please do not hesitate to get in touch today.