Advertisers can now see the loading speeds of more mobile landing pages, due to an algorithm update announced Tuesday by Google Ads. The mobile speed score update enables the tool to generate a score on the advertising console without as many ad clicks having occurred as were previously required.
Google introduced the mobile speed score in July at its Google Marketing Live event.
Mobile speed scores are evaluated on a 10-point scale, with 10 being the fastest. Page speed and potential conversion rate are two of the factors used to determine the score.
Mobile page speed report screenshot provided by Google
Why you should care
Slow landing pages can frustrate users, sending them away from your page and dashing any hope of a sale or conversion.
“Slow mobile pages can slow down your business,” said Prashant Nair, product manager, Google Ads.
“Fifty-three percent of visits to a mobile site are abandoned if it takes more than three seconds to load,” Nair said, citing Google data collected in 2016.
More about the news
- Google suggests that mobile marketers adopt mobile-specific technologies like Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to improve mobile speed scores. “AMP pages typically load 85 percent faster than standard mobile pages. As a result, 90 percent of AMP pages see a high mobile speed score of 10,” Nair said.
- Google has other tools to help marketers monitor their mobile speed: a Speed Scorecard, which compares your site speed to those of your competitors, and the Impact Calculator, which lets you estimate potential revenue loss caused by a slow mobile site.
About The Author
Robin Kurzer started her career as a daily newspaper reporter in Milford, Connecticut. She then made her mark on the advertising and marketing world in Chicago at agencies such as Tribal DDB and Razorfish, creating award-winning work for many major brands. For the past seven years, she’s worked as a freelance writer and communications professional across a variety of business sectors.