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How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

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How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

Read time 13 min read
How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

Test your SEO in 60 seconds! Diib is one of the best SEO tools in the world. Diib uses the power of big data to help you quickly and easily increase your traffic and rankings. We’ll even let you know if you already deserve to rank higher for certain keywords.

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Have you ever measured how fast your website is for mobile users? Increased use of mobile devices and the introduction of Google’s mobile-first index has made it more critical than ever to ensure a website loads faster on mobile devices. Mobile site speed test is no longer done by just plugging a website into a Pingdom and waiting for accurate results. Instead, it takes a unique approach and a few proven tools and tips on how to check website speed for mobile.

Why Is Mobile Speed Important?

Most mobile site test speed tools measure a mobile site’s performance under the ideal desktop conditions, including mimicking a wired internet connection and using high-powered test computers with multiple processors. Thus, pages are still likely to load pretty fast if your mobile is connected to a fast internet connection. Also, performing mobile site speed tests using a high-powered test computer could mean that the test computer will process the processor-intensive tasks, including JavaScript, instead of the mobile device. Testing your website’s speed under these conditions may not give an accurate view of how mobile users experience it when using a slower 4G or 3G connection. Also, a low-powered mobile device might struggle to process-intensive tasks such as JavaScript on your website. The best way to accurately measure a website’s speed is to use tools that can simulate the real conditions in which web users are accessing your website. Here are a few reasons why mobile speed is important and proven tools for mobile website speed test.

WebPage Test

It is a popular test speed mobile website tool that gives website owners control over their test conditions. WebPage test comes with advanced testing options that allow internet users to use various devices, including iOS and Android devices. It can also run on different speed emulations, including Edge, LTE, 4G, and 3G. For example, here is a test done for cnn.com:

How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

(Image Credit: DevOps)

Google

Google offers two different mobile website test speed mobile website tools, where each provides different results. The simple Think With Google mobile site test speed tool, which involves plugging in the site’s URL, can help analyze a mobile-optimized website’s average speed. It offers drop-down features that allow users to choose different networks and countries. However, it is worth noting that Google doesn’t simulate mobile users. Instead, Google gets its data from the real world CrUX report. The Think With Google test tool gives the average speed of all URLs that make up your website. So, Google’s PageSpeed Insight Tool comes in when testing the speed of a specific URL. In the past, the test speed mobile website tool would give an estimate of your speed. However, PageSpeed Insights has changed and can now provide real test data. The data can be collected, even using an underpowered device or simulated network connection. Here is an example of PageSpeed Insights:

How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

(Image Credit: Web.dev)

GTmetrix

The GTmetrix speed only tests the performance of a website under desktop conditions. However, users can sign up for GTmetrix and start testing their speed using their mobile devices. For instance:

How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

(Image Credit: Geekflare)

Check Website Speed: Improve the Performance of Your Mobile Website

Nothing can frustrate customers more than a slow website. However, brands can ensure that their precious customers don’t switch to their tech-savvy competitors for a fast connection that can catch up with their needs. Every second count in today’s fast-paced world, so don’t let your precious customers waste time on a non-responsive and slow connection.

A recent survey shows that delay in page load time can negatively impact customer satisfaction and page views. Of course, no one would be interested in such results, and that’s why it is crucial to speed up your mobile site’s performance. An e-commerce website should load as fast as a race car, otherwise, you might find yourself in the middle of nowhere. The benefits of a performance-enhanced e-commerce website are notable and worth it.

Firstly, performance-enhanced mobile websites rank higher in search results. One of Google’s ranking factors of a mobile-optimized website is its performance. Bing also ranks websites based on their usability, relevance, and performance.

Optimizing your website speed can also help reduce server load and get rid of crashed servers and capability problems, and instead, usher in less bandwidth usage. Speed optimization can also help decrease file sizes and reduce the server’s information and save storage space. Fast page loads can make customers happy and increase conversions. Customers are less likely to order more products on a website that takes ages to load. Here are proven ways to speed up the performance of a mobile site.

Switch to a Fast Server

It may be necessary to switch to a different host provider if your current one isn’t meeting your expectations. For example, a website using shopping carts to sell online products and services may need to move to a different hosting provider for maximum performance. However, the server should offer a higher speed and be able to host shopping carts.

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Minimize HTTP Requests

One of the biggest killers of website speed is HTTP requests when a browser asks for CSS or HTML files from the server. The more features such as style sheets, scripts, and images a website has, the longer the load time and the more requests will be made. However, a sure and quickest way to speed up a website’s performance is to simplify its design, which can be done by streamlining elements on the webpages. Experts recommend limiting links to the website’s navigation to more than seven. Other ways to streamline elements on a site include getting rid of overlapping forms, making your content concise, and removing unnecessary components. Web design experts prefer CSS files over images because they make it easier to achieve effects such as gradients, shadows, and rounded corners, which speed up a website’s performance.

Optimized speed also makes it easier to combine style sheets into a large, single sheet. Opt for a server with a directory for the primary CCS files and another one containing the secondary CCS files to make it easier to customize your website’s design without overwriting some files. Transferring styles from the primary CSS file to the secondary CSS file can significantly increase website performance.

Getting rid of scripts or putting them at the bottom of the page can also increase your website’s performance. Users won’t waste time waiting for the script to download because the HTML will be the first content to load. A performance-enhanced website also makes it easier to convert images into CSS files that contain all the content and images needed to design a website. It will also boost the load speed and reduce the references to images that cause delays.

Enable Browser Caching

The web is a tool relied upon by millions of people worldwide. It puts people in touch with others and events across the globe. The web also makes the world’s information available and accessible to everyone at a click. However, the experience can get better with fast web browsers that are seamless for internet users. Technology has evolved to the extent that internet users can have their files stored on web browsers. For example, Google saves your information the first time you land on a website. By downloading and storing some of the users’ content in the browser, Google speeds up load times and improves efficiency. Web browser catching is like a store where internet users store their files. It can help boost the performance of your mobile website by speeding up load times and saving files. Research shows that browsing cache can reduce load times from 2.4 seconds to 0.9 seconds, which is an impressive 62.5-speed boost.

How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

(Image Credit: CollectiveRay)

Enable Image Compression

Enabling image compression can help boost the performance of a website. However, it is worrying that some webmasters don’t prioritize the size of their images. Experts recommend compressing all files, including JPGs, GIFs, and PNGs, by at least 30-40%. You can achieve this by compressing the image to the exact size of the available space. However, never scale down the size of an image on the web browser. Instead, resize it in an editor such as Photoshop. Experiment with different software programs to see, which will give the best balance between the image quality and size. The web also offers a range of free image optimizers that can be helpful. The image below shows a person using Canva. They made sure to scale the picture to the smallest size available:

How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

Minimize Resources

Formatting and spaces are necessary when reading an article. However, these elements are of no use when styling multiple sheets. A website should be available with codes that are readable to allow for easier designing and customization. But note that the code might come with extra text that isn’t useful to the browser. So, be sure to suck out the air to reduce the code to a smaller size once the design phase is over. The first step to minimizing resources and improving a website’s performance is to get rid of unnecessary code. Next, remove any extraneous scripts or files that could be dragging your website performance. Then use an automated tool or manual technique to take out all the extra line breaks and spaces.

Image Optimization

One of the common culprits for prolonged load times is large volumes of images that aren’t optimized. These images can use many server resources and take up much bandwidth, which may get users on nerves. There are three focus areas when optimizing the image, including SRC attribute, format, and size. The easiest way to optimize an image is to crop it to the correct size before uploading it to the website. Experts prefer the JPEG format over GIFs, TIFFs, and BMBs formats because it helps reduce the color depth to acceptable levels. Webmasters should ensure that their sites have no empty codes that could add unnecessary traffic to the servers.

Minimize or Avoid Redirects

Webmasters are often encouraged to eliminate or minimize redirects to their websites. While making web users browse from one page to another can be fun, it can increase the time a page takes to load. The more time web users spend on an unresponsive web page, the more unsatisfied they become. Redirects create more HTTP results, reducing page load speed test mobile significantly. So, try to minimize redirects as much as you can.

Reduce File Size Using Gzip

Enabling Gzip compression is a proven way to enhance the performance of a website. Gzip compression works the same way as software programs that are used for compressing files on a device. However, enabling Gzip on a web browser can seem too complicated for an ordinary person, so seek assistance from your hosting provider. Different types of files need to be compressed to speed your website’s load times. Also, squeezing applications such as JavaScript and XML could further boost the performance of your website. If you are using WordPress the image below shows you how to enable Gzip:

How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

(Image Credit: Torque)

CSS and JS files Placement

The performance of your website can be made or broken by JavaScript and CSS. The role of JavaScript is to bring animation and interactivity to a website. While JavaScript technology can enhance the user experience, webmasters should prioritize their content quality over usability. After all, mobile users who are always on the move are less concerned about rich user experience but instead focus on the relevance and quality of the content. That’s why it is always crucial to load HTML content before displaying JavaScript. Displaying CSS content at the top of a web page can help prevent the occurrence of unstyled content when your web page’s content appears on the web browser. Pages are also likely to load faster, increasing the performance of the website.

Reduce the Response Time

Optimizing your website’s performance isn’t only about organizing and cleaning the codes. It also depends on the response time of the web server. It means that the longer the customers’ data takes to get to the server, the slower the website. Slow response time can be caused by various reasons, including memory starvation and slow database queries. The optimum server response time should be under 200ms. Experts recommend analyzing the performance of a website before finding a solution to the top performance bottlenecks. A few other ways can help enhance the response time include reducing the resources that the web pages require and configuring or changing the web server software.

Browse on Managed Hosts and Solid State Drives

Solid State Drives (SSD) can increase load time by about 20 times and give a website an impressive performance. Also, servers with SSD experience less latency and lower access times, run quietly, and don’t encounter resistance to shocks. Hosting an e-commerce website on a dedicated server can also speed up its performance.

Use a Mobile CDN to Improve Latency

Webmasters can take loads off their servers with the help of a content delivery network (CDN). It also helps speed up web pages’ performance by creating more space for storing scripts and images on a network of servers. A mobile CDN ensures that clients get content from their local web servers, eliminating the latency and increasing a website’s performance.

How Fast Is My Internet Speed?

After implementing the above measures, the next step is to test your speed to see if there is any significant difference. However, some tools for mobile website speed tests are needed before this process starts. Different page load speed test mobile can provide variable results, so use multiple testing tools.

Tricks to Convert a Website to Faster Formats

There are two web pages and website formats that can help improve slow-loading on mobile devices.

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AMP

Accelerate Mobile Pages (AMP) format is fast due to numerous reasons, including lightweight HTML, Google Cloud cache, and lazy loading. APM format can be used for any website, but it works better for blogs and digital publications with speedy reading experiences. It comes with a WordPress plugin that makes it easier to convert pages. This is what that looks like:

How to Accurately Test and Improve Mobile Speed

(Image Credit: AddThis)

PWA

Progressive Web App (PWA) combines convenience and searchability with mobile apps that are user friendly. It loads faster than traditional mobile websites. Interestingly, PWA works like a mobile app and can even be accessed offline, making it a perfect option for a webmaster targeting people living in low or no-coverage zones. With PWA, a website can run on an app-like shell, so it doesn’t have to pick or choose which page to convert. PWA is a valuable tool for a webmaster interested in creating a faster and better customer experience.

Diib®: Keeping Your Mobile Speed #1

Don’t lose potential clients to slow speeds. Instead, speed up the performance of your website and hope for unprecedented traffic to your website. Optimizing mobile websites has become more critical than ever given that over 50% of all internet users are using mobile devices. Experts expect that number to continue to rise as more people embrace the use of mobile devices. 

Diib Digital offers insights into your mobile speed and easy to understand objectives to improve your speed and overall website health. Here are some of the features you’re sure to love:

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FAQ’s

This is simple. Start by plugging in your URL to a mobile speed checker. Next, choose the device type and checkpoint location.

Google recommends, “Two seconds is the threshold for ecommerce website acceptability. At Google, we aim for under a half-second.” In this day and age, mobile users want fast, accurate information at their fingertips.

In short, the most likely culprit is usually a large number of unoptimized images. They load slowly often using a lot of bandwidth. Uploading larger sized images and then scaling them down can unnecessarily increase the size of your web page – causing your website to load slowly.

According to Akamai, “52% of mobile users expect web pages to load in 2 seconds or less, and 53% of mobile users abandon websites that take longer than 3 seconds to load”.

First you’ll want to make sure your internet is working well. Next, try accessing your site from different computers and/or devices and different networks to see if the problem continues. It could be that the issue is the actual design of your site.

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Daniel Urmann

Author Bio:

Daniel Urmann is the co-founder of Diib.com. Over the past 17 years Daniel has helped thousands of business grow online through SEO, social media, and paid advertising. Today, Diib helps over 150,000 business globally grow online with their SaaS offerings. Daniel’s interest include SMB analytics, big data, predictive analytics, enterprise and SMB search engine optimization (SEO), CRO optimization, social media advertising, A/B testing, programatic and geo-targeting, PPC, and e-commerce. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) focused in Finance and E-commerce from Cornell University – S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management.

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