Google’s Page Speed Increases 15-20% on Slower Sites

Google’s Page Speed Increases 15-20% on Slower Sites

You may remember in January 2018 when Google announced that it would be reducing the rankings of slow mobile pages in search results. The “Google Speed Update” announcement gave us time to improve website performance before the algorithm update rolled out in July 2018. Now, Google has shared some data surrounding the update.

What this means for marketers: According to the data shared by Google, the slowest one-third of traffic saw user-centric performance metrics improve by 15% to 20% in 2018. To provide a frame of reference, there were virtually no improvement in these same metrics in 2017.

What this really means is that site owners, developers, SEOs, etc. took the update seriously and made significant improvements in site speed, creating a better user experience. As a result, those sites won’t lose their organic traffic due to page speed and the web is officially faster.

If the update didn’t affect your site, it doesn’t mean there is nothing to worry about. Take this update as a sign of the growing importance Google places on page speed. Also, consider just how much your competitors may have improved their own web performance in preparation for the update.  Faster loading sites typically have better bounce rates. Our biggest takeaway from this data? It is vital to continuously find ways to improve page speed on clients’ sites.