Page Speed Insights provides a ranking of how fast different pages are loading on different devices, with mobile scores usually being lower than desktop scores. This discrepancy is often attributed to the fact that mobile devices typically have slower processors and less memory than desktop computers.
Nowadays, Mobile devices play an increasingly important role in our lives, so it’s no surprise that more and more people are using them to browse the internet. In fact, recent studies show that nearly 50% of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices. This is why it’s more important than ever to ensure your website is optimized for mobile browsers. One way to do this is by monitoring your page speed score.
You may have noticed that your page speed score differs depending on whether you’re looking at it on a desktop or mobile device. So what’s the reason for this discrepancy? and what are the aspects that create Mobile and Desktop Page Speed Scores?
- Mobile devices have slower processors than desktop devices, which results in slower Page Speed Scores.
- Mobile devices have device-specific CSS rules that can affect page speed, such as different image sizes depending on the device size or adjusting the viewport size to match the user’s screen resolution.
- Page Speed Insights tests mobile networks at a lower speed than desktop networks, which can impact page speeds on mobile devices.
When Page Speed Insights is run on a website, it frequently shows the mobile version of the website when loading through a simulated 3G connection. Google LightHouse audits should turn off “simulated throttling” so that different scores can be given for mobile and desktop. With “simulated throttling” checked, the mobile and desktop scores cannot be differentiated.
Browsers render pages differently on mobile devices, which can affect the Page Speed score. Additionally, mobiles have more device-specific CSS rules that need to be taken into account when calculating a score. If your site is not optimized for mobile devices, it may slow down as a result.
Even if test scores vary a bit from one person to the next, they usually don’t change too much when the tests are done on the same connection speed.
When you view the mobile scores of a website on a phone or tablet connected to Wi-Fi, the scores may be slower than if you viewed the site over cellular data. However, when Page Speed Insights and Lighthouse analyze a site’s loading performance on mobile devices using 3G connections, it often appears as if the site was loaded over cellular data.
While running Google Lighthouse Performance audits, it is suggested to use an incognito mode of the browser if you choose not to install any extensions. This will help reduce the potential for any extensions that you have installed on your browser to affect your speed scores negatively. However, even after using an incognito mode, Page Speed Insights still reports any extension usage as part of the report.
Why does Mobile Page Speed Matter?
Mobile devices are used for a variety of different tasks, such as checking email and browsing the web, which can all impact the speed of a website.
Since mobile users are becoming more common, Google is focusing its crawlers, particularly on the mobile versions of websites. This can impact page speed and total performance. In early 2019, many website owners who haven’t optimized their sites for mobile were met with a number of issues because the crawlers only looked at the mobile versions of websites.
Page speed is an important part of a website for users because poor page speed can lead to decreased user experience and decreased performance on mobile devices. A slow website can frustrate users and may lead to them leaving your site altogether.
Different browsers load websites differently, so it’s important to test your site on different mobile devices to see where the biggest load times are.
How to Optimize your Website for Top Page Speed Scores?
Mobile page speed is a critical ranking factor for Google. In fact, if your website doesn’t load quickly on mobile devices, you could see a significant decrease in traffic. That’s why it’s important to make sure that your website is as fast as possible on all devices.
Luckily, our team at Adjossible can help you optimize your website for top page speed scores. We have years of experience and know the ins and outs of getting your website loading quickly no matter what device your customer is using. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you achieve optimal mobile page speeds!
