Google has been making a name for itself lately as advocates of fast-loading web pages on mobile devices. As it turns out, Google actually has the slowest loading home page on mobile devices compares to its major competitors.
This was pointed out on a recent thread on Hacker News, and the test was conduced using Google’s own PageSpeed Insights tool. I ran some of the same tests and can confirm Google.com has the slowest loading home page on mobile.
You can see the results of the search engines I tested below:
Google’s page speed
DuckDuckGo’s page speed
Bing’s page speed
Yahoo’s page speedInterestingly enough, it was Yahoo who came out on top with the fastest loading home page on mobile. Perhaps that’s why it has been able to capture a larger share of the mobile search market than Google’s competitors. Though at just over 3.5%, Yahoo’s share of the mobile search market is barely touching Google’s 94% share.
Google’s mobile page speed is being held back by render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold content. As the leader in search, and as a company always touting the importance of page speed, Google should arguably be leading by example in this area.
With Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) launching at the end of this month, Google should have one of the fastest loading home pages on mobile to help searchers access AMP’s. It will be interesting to see if Google makes any technical revisions prior to the big AMP launch.
Featured Image Credit: Modfos / Shutterstock.com
