Timing is Key: Google’s New Tool
– By #RSA
While technology continues to advance, Google has recently released a tool for businesses to see how well websites work across a variety of platforms (desktop, mobile devices, etc). This really isn’t surprising considering Google changed its algorithm in 2015 to give mobile-friendly websites more stature in search rankings. People spend more time searching on their mobile devices instead of their computers, which pushes companies to make their websites more mobile-friendly. According to KPCB mobile technology trends by Mary Meeker, 51% of users view content through a mobile device compared to 42% on desktop. The bottom line is this: if your website is mobile friendly, you’ve taken an important first step. However, if your website’s load time isn’t optimized – for mobile devices or on desktop – your customers aren’t going to stick around on your website for long.
Mobile Friendliness
As stated earlier, Google is now giving mobile-friendly websites preferential treatment when it comes to search rankings. This isn’t necessarily to punish websites not optimized for mobile devices, but simply an attempt to provide users with easy access to the best available content on the web. Mobile-friendliness for a website is no longer an important feature for websites, it’s essential. With the addition of smartphones and tablets, the use of desktop computers and laptops to explore travel sites or shop the latest trends are starting to become a thing of the past. Mobile-friendly websites will bring customers back again and again. Currently, the trend of surfing the web on mobile devices doesn’t seem to be slowing down, so it’s important to continue updating your website to accommodate changes.
Mobile Speed
Consumers don’t want to wait around for a slow loading website, so having one that takes less than 3 seconds to show content is vital. If your website load time on a mobile devices is slow, you’ll probably experience a high bounce rate, low time on site, and missed opportunities which, in the end, cost your business money. With the advancements in computing power and high-speed access, we’ve grown accustomed to getting almost instant access to our content. Progress bars are a key factor in retaining consumers to stick to waiting rather than leaving to find a faster website. As carriers expand their coverage, mobile devices gain access to content in wider areas, which will only increase the demand that website load times become faster.
Desktop Speed
While mobile devices do account for over half of internet users, there’s still a good portion (42%) stick to laptops and desktop computers. The larger screens are better for those who want to flip through multiple tabs without all the extra effort. It’s equally important to make sure that your website load time for desktop is as fast, if not faster, than on mobile devices. A slow-loading website can be just as harmful on a desktop as it is on a mobile device.
To see how your website checks out, follow this link. Google will send a detailed report to show you the reasons behind the scores and suggest ways to fix them if they’re low. If your website is running slow, contact the professionals at Robert Sharp & Associates. We incorporate mobile optimization into each website we build, and we make sure that the website load times (mobile and desktop) of our builds follow best practices. Our experienced Web Development and Search Engine Optimization teams can help create a new website that you and your customers will love.
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