The faster your mobile site loads, the better you’ll look to Google’s robots when it scans your site. Slow-loading websites are now being penalized in the algorithm while fast-loading sites are rewarded.
Google recommend your site loads on mobile in 5 seconds or less. Research from Unbounce, however, shows that 85 percent of mobile sites reviewed did not hit the mark. Only 15% had load times less than 5 seconds. In fact, the company found that 40% of the mobile sites examined took 11 seconds or more to load.
Slow loading pages are taking a real risk with consumers. According to Google., 53% of mobile site visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load.
SOURCE: Google
When Google launched its Speed Update last year in July, it warned developers to pay attention to the total user experience.
”We encourage developers to think broadly how about performance affects a user’s experience of their page and to consider a variety of user experience metrics.” – Google
Other key findings from Unbounce Research:
- When it comes to waiting for pages to load, most consumers think they’re more patient than they actually are.
- Nearly 70% of consumers admit that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer.
- Although they know it’s important, the majority of marketers aren’t making page speed a priority