Google: Page Loading Speeds to Become Factor in Mobile Search Rankings

Google has formally revealed through its official blog that starting in July of this year, it will be looking to start taking page loading speeds into account when ranking websites for its mobile search results. According to the search giant, when its Speed Update will go live in half a year’s time, websites with very slow loading speeds will likely be down-ranked.

But still, it may not be the end of the world for slow websites. While it is true that in this day and age, mobile users will always prefer websites that load fast, speed is hardly the only factor that Google takes into consideration. Relevance, of course, remains a big and important criteria. So if a slow loading website happens to offer the most relevant and best information or content based on what a user is searching for, then those pages should still rank high on the mobile search results. Google also took the opportunity to explain that the upcoming Speed Update six months from now will likely affect web pages that provide the slowest experience for mobile users, and it will only have an effect on a very minor percentage of mobile searches.

It is no secret that Google has made it its mission to make the overall mobile search experience a better one for everybody. Some may remember that back in October of 2015, the company had launched a new open source initiative called the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project. As its name suggests, the aim of the project is to basically bring about faster loading of web pages as seen or read through the screens of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. By February of the following year, the search giant had started to highlight AMP websites (those web pages that take full advantage of AMP tech in order to speed up the page loading process). Around a couple of months later, Google then began to grant AMP websites a more visible position in Google News.

In relation to the upcoming Speed Update, websites now have to decide if they want to improve their loading speeds, especially those that take time to load on mobile devices. Despite the fact that Google is not supplying a stand alone tool for web publishers in order to prepare for the Speed Update, the tech giant did provide some resources that should help website owners upgrade their loading speeds. These resources include the Chrome User Experience Report, the website auditing tool Lighthouse, and PageSpeed Insights.