At yesterday’s Search Marketing Summit in Sydney, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes confirmed that page speed would become a factor in the next mobile update.
He did not reveal a date, but given that Google has only recently updated its mobile algorithm, it seems that there’s more to come in a matter of months.
This does not come as a huge surprise, as Google’s introduction of Acceerated Mobile Pages shows its concern about page speed on mobile, given that the majority of Google searches are carried out on mobile. It makes sense too; after all, why should slow loading sites which deliver a poor user experience be rewarded by a high ranking in the SERPs?
It’s obvious that slow sites reduce conversions and traffic, with faster sites increasing them.
The PageSpeed Insights tool seems to be what Google will use to rank sites according to page speed. You can type any site in and it will analyse it, giving it a score out of 100 for speed and user experience, with how to guides which explain the problems and how to fix them. It can do this for mobile and desktop.
