Google’s newest change is almost here. It’s a mobile-first index change that Google has been threatening to unleash for a while, and a big part of it will emphasise a re-engineering of the page speed specifically for mobile devices. The crux of it is that you need to get your mobile details sorted or you’re going to be in danger of losing an awful lot of traffic.
Check on PageSpeed Insight (which you really ought to be familiar with) and pop your site address right on there. The site will show you two scores: one for desktop and one for mobile. I know, Google’s has its own product designed specifically for mobile, but it doesn’t work properly and it’s really unhelpful. This site will give you advice on what to do in order to increase your page speed.
The speed of your DNS will make a big difference, as well as the basics such as page load times, making your images smaller, and all the other details you should already have taken care of. What we’re also seeing now is a request to eliminate render-blocking for mobile. What this is referring to is any piece of video with CSS on your page; Google wants it to load before the whole page appears. This has been popping up everywhere, which leads me to think that it needs to be fixed right now.
The other thing you should look at on your mobile is whether you still have sliders at the top of the page. We did an experiment with them a couple of weeks ago for a client’s site and just recently looked at the results. We had a 90% income increase for desktop, but the mobile site earned a whopping 153% increase! Bottom line: get your house in order now, and pay special close attention to your mobile pages.
This article was originally published on stewartmedia.com.au.
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Jim Stewart is a leading expert in search engine optimisation. His business StewArt Media has worked with clients including Mars, M2 and the City of Melbourne.
