It is no secret that there are all kinds of ways to make your website Google-proof. For example, the right technical foundation is important, content plays a role, and you can download various plugins that make your website easier to find. You can now add the speed of your mobile website to that list.
Since 2015, Google has prioritized responsive (mobile-friendly) websites in its search results. Until recently, the speed of a mobile website had no positive effect on your search engine ranking; it worked the other way around: very slow websites were penalized by Google in terms of position. Now, however, that is different. If your competitor's mobile website is faster than yours, it could easily earn them a higher position in the search engine.
Prevent a negative user signal
The reason Google is starting to use mobile speed as a ranking factor is actually quite logical. After all, the search engine has always aimed to provide its users with optimal ease of use and to continuously improve the visitor experience. Because mobile internet traffic is now an indispensable part of the online landscape, Google is focusing more and more on the responsiveness of websites.
A mobile user who clicks on your website in Google search results and returns to Google fairly quickly causes Google to associate a negative user signal with your website. And if your mobile website is slow, there is a high probability that a visitor will indeed return to the results page in Google quickly. This can therefore be disastrous for your ranking position.
It is therefore important to ensure that Google does not associate your website with negative user signals. Curious about the status of your page speed? You can easily check your score with the Google PageSpeed Insights toolBy the way, did you know that all websites Best4u develops always have a PageSpeed of 80+ upon delivery? On desktop as well as on mobile and tablet.
Do you want to get started yourself to improve the speed of your mobile website? The following tips will give you a hand:
1. Reduce the size of your images
Images that are too large are detrimental to your website's speed. Fortunately, there are handy tools that allow you to resize your images in no time. For example, use WP Smush to automatically compress and resize your images. A resized version of an image can already provide a significant boost to your website's speed, while the image quality remains unchanged.
2. Investigate the technical optimization possibilities
There are countless ways developers can technically optimize your website for better (mobile) speed. It is not always necessary to hire a developer for this; you can also do a lot yourself (view this article but once). If you can't quite figure it out yourself, it's not a bad idea to instruct your website builder to focus on improving your website's page speed. In fact, the page speed of your website should be a priority for every website builder these days top of mind They should be, but it never hurts to point it out to the expert. Plus, you can then immediately check using the PageSpeed Insights tool whether he did his job well. 😉
3. Look at the competition
It is important to remember that Google assigns your website a certain ranking based on a comparison with other websites targeting the same keywords. Therefore, your goal should be to have a faster website than competitors working with the same keywords. By searching for the keyword that matters to you on your mobile phone, you can compare the speeds of various competitors and get a better idea of the average speed score that is important to you. Therefore, always be specific and do not compare yourself to the absolute fastest websites on the internet (provided they use the same keywords as you do, of course).
Want to know more about your website's mobile speed?
Our experts are up to date with the latest developments and can tell you much more about the speed of your (mobile) website. So please do not hesitate to send an email (support@best4u.nl) or call (0575 512 125) if you have any questions about this.