There is a significant correlation between fast mobile page load times and ranking toward the top of Google’s mobile search engine results pages, according to recent research from Searchmetrics.
The report was based on an analysis the load speed of pages for thousands of US organic mobile search results ranking in positions 1 through 15.
The researchers found that mobile pages ranking in positions 1 through 5 load measurably faster, on average, compared with those ranking in positions 6 through 15.
Across all industries, pages ranking in positions 1 through 5 take 2.5 seconds to load, on average, and pages ranking in positions 6 through 10 take 2.8 seconds to load, on average.
Nearly one-third (32%) of the top five mobile search results for the keywords examined load within a second, whereas less than one in four pages ranked 6 through 10 load that quickly.
The mobile pages for the top five results tend to load more quickly across keywords for all the verticals examined, including pages relevant to e-commerce, finance, health, media, and travel terms.
About the research: The report was based on an analysis the load speed of pages for thousands of US organic mobile search results ranking in positions 1 through 15.
Ayaz Nanji is an independent digital strategist and a co-founder of ICW Content, a marketing agency specializing in content creation for brands and businesses. He is also a research writer for MarketingProfs. He has worked for Google/YouTube, the Travel Channel, AOL, and the New York Times.
LinkedIn: Ayaz Nanji
Twitter: @ayaznanji