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 |