What have we seen?

In case you missed it, Google have begun testing red Site Speed Indicators in search results. This marker (seen below) names and shames slow loading sites. We have known that Google uses the sites speed as a UX (User Experience) measure for some time. Since 2010, Google have been taking a sites page speed into consideration when ranking.

Well, now Google testing out slow site performance markers in search results.

Why is Google doing this?

The reason for doing this is pretty simple. Google are looking to improve the user’s experience, and providing a Site Speed indicator to the user is a good way to do this. This allows the user to factor this into their decision making process. These decisions can be influenced by environmental factors, such as phone reception, access to WiFi or remaining data limits. Google is staying true to form and testing this feature before actual implementation, but we see no reason why this will not be implemented.

What effect will this have?

It is likely that the effect will be positive and allow users to make more informed decisions. This is not the first time that we have seen similar indicators. Performance and reception of the slow site indicators will likely mirror that of the mobile friendly indicators. Here at Mobius, we believe that more information mean greater empowerment, and greater empowerment of the user is a good thing.

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