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 |
More in Media
With Firefly Image 3, Adobe aims to integrate more AI tools for various apps
New tools let people make images in seconds, create image backgrounds, replacing parts of an image and use reference images to create with AI.
Publishers revamp their newsletter offerings to engage audiences amid threat of AI and declining referral traffic
Publishers like Axios, Eater, the Guardian, theSkimm and Snopes are either growing or revamping their newsletter offerings to engage audiences as a wave of generative AI advancements increases the need for original content and referral traffic declines push publishers to find alternative ways to reach readers.
The Guardian US is starting its pursuit of political ad dollars
The Guardian US is entering the race for political ad dollars.