How can you measure page speed for a mobile site?

Page speed is a crucial factor for both user experience and search engine optimization, especially for mobile devices. Mobile users expect fast and smooth web pages, and search engines reward sites that deliver them. But how can you measure page speed for a mobile site and identify areas for improvement? In this article, we will cover some of the tools and methods you can use to assess and optimize your mobile site performance.

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1 Use Google tools

Google offers several free tools that can help you measure page speed for a mobile site. The most popular ones are PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and Mobile-Friendly Test. These tools analyze your site from different perspectives and provide scores, recommendations, and reports on various aspects of speed, usability, and SEO. You can use these tools to compare your site with your competitors, track your progress over time, and prioritize the most impactful changes.

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Caroline H.

Director • Marketing & Digital Consultant • Events Manager • WordPress Expert • Certified Google, Meta & W3C
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In addition, Chrome Developer Tools provides a wealth of insights. Allowing you to slow down a page load to Fast or Slow 3G, you can visually identify bottlenecks in performance and large assets you can then optimise.

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2 Check third-party metrics

Besides Google tools, you can also use third-party tools and platforms to measure page speed for a mobile site. Some of the most widely used ones are GTmetrix, WebPageTest, and Pingdom. These tools allow you to test your site from different locations, devices, and network conditions, and provide detailed metrics on loading time, page size, requests, and performance grades. You can also use these tools to simulate user interactions, such as scrolling, clicking, or tapping, and measure how they affect your site speed.

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Caroline H.

Director • Marketing & Digital Consultant • Events Manager • WordPress Expert • Certified Google, Meta & W3C
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Integrating tools into your build processes is as easy as adding a package, if you're already using the likes of npm or yarn. You can also add them during your CI/CD and have deployments stopped if they don't meet criteria that you set for production environments. Github does this really well!

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3 Monitor real user data

Another way to measure page speed for a mobile site is to collect and analyze real user data. Real user data reflects how your site performs in the real world, with different browsers, devices, network conditions, and user behaviors. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Firebase Performance Monitoring, or CrUX (Chrome User Experience Report) to gather and visualize real user data. You can use this data to identify common issues, segment your audience, and optimize your site for different scenarios.

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4 Optimize your site speed

Measuring page speed for a mobile site is the first step to optimizing it. There are many ways to improve your site speed, including minifying and compressing code, images, and fonts; using a content delivery network (CDN); implementing caching and preloading strategies; eliminating render-blocking resources; deferring non-critical resources; using responsive design and adaptive images; and following web performance best practices and guidelines. All of these strategies can help reduce server load, reduce requests and latency, and deliver the optimal layout and size for each device.

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5 Test and iterate

The last step to measure page speed for a mobile site is to test and iterate. You should not assume that your optimizations will work as expected, or that they will have the same effect on all devices and users. You should test your site regularly, using both synthetic and real user data, and measure the impact of your changes on your site speed, user experience, and SEO. You should also keep up with the latest trends and updates on mobile web performance, and adjust your site accordingly.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can you measure page speed for a mobile site?

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1 Use Google tools

2 Check third-party metrics

3 Monitor real user data

4 Optimize your site speed

5 Test and iterate

6 Here’s what else to consider

Search Engine Optimization

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