Test and Improve Your Site’s Speed with Google’s Revamped “Test My Site” Tool
An overwhelming majority of today’s customers interact with your small business via mobile devices. Therefore, optimizing your site for rapid, secure and streamlined mobile access is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity. Fast sites attract, and keep, customers’ interest. Conversely, slow-loading, cumbersome, sites not only frustrate users, but could drive potential new clients’ business elsewhere. Fortunately, Google’s recently retooled “Test My Site” feature delivers a powerful resource to help gauge performance, compare loading times to competitors and even offer suggestions to help boost your site’s speed.
The Important Role Site Speed Plays in the Overall User Experience
Even if you host informative, actionable and high-quality content concerning your products and services, if your pages do not load quickly and your site’s structure is not responsive to user input, then you may be limiting your opportunities for growth. In fact, according to SOASTA’s State of Online Retail Performance Report, just a one-second delay in a webpage’s load time could impact conversion rates by nearly 20 percent. Therefore, optimized website development focused on delivering fast, creative and engaging user experiences is essential.
What Advantages Does the New “Test My Site” Deliver?
Launched in 2016, Google’s “Test My Site” was an instant hit for businesses sitting on the cutting-edge of the mobile revolution. Since that time, Google took the tool back to the drawing board and implemented a wide range of additional features and enhanced functionality. With the newly launched version of Google’s “Test My Site”, SMBs can plug a site’s domain into the tool and unlock eye-opening metrics including, but not limited to:
- The speed of your entire website as well as the speed of individual webpages
- Speed ranking categories (Fast, Medium and Slow)
- Data comparing your site to others in your sector
- The potential impact of your site’s speed on your SMB’s revenue
- A comprehensive list of recommendations to boost your site’s speed
- A detailed report which can be easily shared with decision-makers in your company