Hurry up: Google testing red warning label for slow websites?
A website that is slow or has a layout that makes it tricky to navigate, is undesirable for your company to have. In all of these instances, visitors could be deterred from staying on your website long enough to even seriously consider becoming a paying customer of your company.
However, if you have noticed that your website often takes much time to load, you could soon have a further major incentive to find ways of quickening it up.
A fresh reason for a need for speed?
K Neeraj Kayastha, a Google+ user, recently used the social networking platform to report that, while conducting a Google search using incognito mode on his Android device, he spotted a red label reading “Slow” in the search results.
He even posted a screenshot which clearly shows the label apparently indicating the slow speed of pages on two of Google’s own websites, Google Scholar and YouTube. Several other Google users have since reported being unable to replicate the “Slow” label on their own devices. This suggests that the search giant has merely been testing the feature and has not yet decided whether to make it permanent.
However, Google has previously introduced a similar label – indicating “mobile-friendly” websites – after a period of testing, so now could be an especially good time for companies to work at shortening their websites’ loading times.
How can you help speed up your website?
Even if Google do not actually go ahead with this red label, your website’s speed will continue to influence its search rankings. SEO Local has specialist web design and development staff who can make use of their many years of industry experience and implement the most modern web technologies and practices to help to make your website zippier. Get in touch today!
