Speed testing services seem to be the new thing tech companies are dabbing into on their free time – just weeks after Netflix launched Fast.com, Google has announced its own tool to help you measure your website’s speed and mobile-friendliness.
The site takes your URL and measures on a scale of 1-100 your mobile design and loading speed. It looks at things like CSS, HTML, scripts and images to see how long it takes for your website to load on both a desktop and mobile device.
Google says an average user leaves the site if it doesn’t load on mobile within three seconds, so if your site takes much longer than that, your lower will appear lower.
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Ironically, it does take more than three seconds for Google’s tool to complete the test, but it’s worth finding out how your site fares. You can also click a button to see where you’ve failed specifically to find areas for improvement.
“On average, people check their phones more than 150 times a day, and more searches occur on mobile phones than computers. But if a potential customer is on a phone, and a site isn’t easy to use, they’re five times more likely to leave,” Google wrote in a blog post announcing the tool, which was created in partnership with digital agency Huge.
Interestingly, Google didn’t exactly fare well in its own test.
If you need help though, Google links out to a handful of site builders it evidently approves of to help you make your site mobile-friendly and fast, including services like Wix, Duda, and Weebly. Big ouch for Squarespace and WordPress.
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