Android to Label Sites that Load Quickly

Google has announced that they will be adding “fast page” labels, this comes as part of Google’s push to improve user experience. By labelling the pages Google’s aim is to notify developers on the speed of the site. Google has updated its developer tools providing recommendations on how to meet their criteria, which will track page load time, responsiveness and the stableness of content displayed on the website.

We asked one of our Digital Project Managers Mark to share his thoughts on the new chrome feature.“Website speed plays an important part of a user’s online experience and Google labelling websites with a Fast Pages tag simply makes this information more visible to the everyday user. Slower websites are already being penalised organically with fewer visitors, higher bounce rates and less dwell time. This update will reward websites using good practices, which will ultimately improve Google’s user’s experience. It’s worth remembering that although Google does account for a large proportion of web searches and general traffic, there are other platforms that will bring users to a website. Different search engines, social media, PPC, and email marketing are just some of the ways that users can be acquired, and your website speed is just as important for these platforms.”

Although the feature is yet to be launched it will definitely be interesting to see how it will impact user experience, as 74.6% of mobile users worldwide use android, it could have a significant impact on how website developers design sites.