Google’s emphasis on mobile page speed will hit CNN, WSJ and other top sites

Google has been using page speed to rank sites for desktop search results, and now it’s getting ready to do the same for mobile. In a blog post published Jan. 17, it said that starting in July, page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile searches. Google said the “Speed Update,” as it’s called, will affect pages that deliver the slowest experience to users and will only affect a small percentage of queries.

We decided to see how the top publishers’ sites perform on mobile, using Google’s own speed test. (This list is based on the comScore 200; in cases where the parent company is listed, we used the biggest or flagship site.) A few observations: The sites that ranked fast aren’t all digital natives, and some of the sites that get hyped as tech-forward don’t deliver, at least when it comes to speed. And size isn’t always an advantage: The slowest sites included CNN, MailOnline and The Wall Street Journal.

Publisher Mobile speed
The Atlantic fast
Better Homes & Gardens fast
Business Insider fast
Bustle fast
Cosmopolitan fast
Diply fast
ESPN fast
Everyday Health fast
Gizmodo fast
The Hill fast
HuffPost fast
International Business Times fast
Los Angeles Times fast
National Geographic fast
New York magazine fast
NY Daily News fast
NPR fast
PBS fast
PopSugar fast
Refinery29 fast
SheKnows fast
Verywell fast
ABC News average
AOL average
BBC average
Bleacher Report average
CafeMom average
Complex average
Fox News average
Guardian average
LittleThings average
Mashable average
New York Post average
The New York Times average
Ozy average
People average
Purch average
Thrillist average
Upworthy average
U.S. News & World Report average
USA Today average
The Telegraph average
Vice average
Vox average
The Washington Post average
WebMD average
Wired average
Yahoo average
CNN slow
MailOnline slow
NBC News slow
Reuters slow
The Wall Street Journal slow
https://digiday.com/?p=272500

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