How Do YOU Feel When You Have to Wait?
I'm sure you've been on hold for more than 30 seconds recently.
Do you remember that feeling - like you are being ignored?
THAT is what mobile users feel when your pages do not load fast!
It's simple to do this after the first time...
Short Video of Using Incognito to Analyze Mobile Page Speed.
- Using Chrome (install it if you do not have it already), open any Web site page - even if it's not your own.
- In the top, right portion of the browser window you'll see 3 vertical dots - click on them.
- You'll see the selection, "New Incognito Window" - click on that.
- Visit "any" page of "any" Web site in this new Incognito window.
- Right click anywhere on the page, then "left" click on "Inspect" at the bottom of the list of options.
- That opens an area either at the bottom or to the side of your browser.
- In the "bar" that goes across the top of the area, beginning with "Elements..." and ending with "Performance insights", if the area is not at the bottom of your page, look for the 3 vertical dots next to the "gear" icon, and click on the 3 dots. In the little window that opens, you'll see "Dock side" followed by 4 images. Click on the 3rd image. When you hold your mouse over the image it says, "Dock to bottom" - click on that one and you will see your half-window move to the bottom of your browser window.
- Now, in the top bar that begins with the word "Elements...", look for "Lighthouse" and left click on that.
- After you click on Lighthouse you will see a new area, "Generate a Lighthouse report". Make sure you see the following options selected:
- Navigation (Default); Device: Mobile (VERY important! - you are not concerned about desktop); Categories: select all of them.
- Once you have confirmed all of those settings have been selected, click on the blue button to the right, "Analyze page load", then wait for the page to reload and show you the results.
The main thing you want to see is the "Performance" number. If it is under 89, the page will not be found in the mobile search results. That means, mobile users may never find your page(s). Google requires a minumum of 89 to be "considered" for inclusion in the mobile search results.
Where you see your SEO score, ignore that. It's only the "technical" parts of SEO - NOT your actual score for how well your site is optimized. That SEO number has nothing to do with how well the page is optimized.