Speed and mobile
A page that loads quickly and works on a phone is easier to use and easier to find. How to measure yours, and what usually slows it down.
Why it matters
People leave slow pages. Google also looks at how a page performs for real visitors, as one of many things it weighs. A fast page will not outrank a better answer, but between similar pages it helps, and it always helps the person waiting.
Google reads the phone version
Google crawls and indexes sites as a phone would. If something is missing from the mobile version of a page, Google may never see it. The page should fit the screen without sideways scrolling, the text should be readable without zooming, and buttons should be big enough to tap.
How to measure
PageSpeed Insights is free. Type in an address and it reports how the page performs, with a list of what to fix. Test a few of your main pages, not only the home page.
It reports three measures Google calls Core Web Vitals:
- Loading: how long before the main content appears. Under 2.5 seconds is good.
- Responsiveness: how quickly the page reacts when someone taps or types.
- Stability: whether things jump around while the page loads.
Search Console has a Core Web Vitals report that shows the same measures across your whole site, taken from real visits.
What usually slows a page down
- Large images. A photo straight from a camera can be several megabytes. Resize it to the size it is shown at and save it in a modern format such as WebP.
- Too many add-ons. Every plugin, chat widget, tracker and embedded video adds weight. Remove the ones you do not use.
- Slow hosting. If the server takes a second to answer, nothing else can make up for it.
- Fonts and scripts loaded from many places. Each one is another trip before the page can show.
Use HTTPS
Your address should start with https, with the padlock in the browser. It protects your visitors, browsers warn people away from sites without it, and Google prefers it. Most hosts now include a certificate at no cost.