Websites Are Less Mobile Friendly Today Than They Were A Year Ago

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According to new metrics released by HTTPArchive, the Internet is less mobile friendly today in 2018 than it was in 2017.

What is HTTPArchive and where did they get this information?

HTTPArchive is the sister project of Archive.org which takes snapshots of every website on the web and stores it permanently in the public domain. HTTPArchive uses these snapshots to collect statistics and performance metrics.

Responsive Does Not Mean Mobile Friendly

Despite Google warning webmasters for the past year of the dangers of having a non-mobile friendly website that could affect rankings and ad performance, it seems shocking that websites are less mobile friendly now than they were prior to this warning.

On the surface it may appear that more websites than ever before are responsive on mobile devices, which is true, but that does not mean they are mobile friendly. Mobile friendliness covers a multitude of different elements, not just rendering and responsiveness.

Stats: Why Websites Are Less Mobile Friendly Now vs. Then

By trying to make websites more mobile friendly, it appears that webmasters may have been counterproductive or not have the necessary skills to correctly implement mobile changes. Here is a breakdown of all the performance statistics released by HTTPArchive which show the large decrease in mobile friendliness:

  • The average wait time to access a mobile site is now 5.9 seconds – up 22.9% from last year
  • The average wait time for a web page to become fully accessible and interactive is now 14.6 seconds – up 20.7%
  • JavaScript weight has increased by 50.1%
  • CCS file weight has increased by 36.8%
  • HTML weight has increased by 117.5%
  • Font weight has increased by 18.3%
  • Image weight has increased by 13.9%

What Does This Mean For You?

Google has provided webmasters with an array of information regarding why mobile performance matters, and here is a take away that gives you an insight into the impact:

“Websites loading within 5 seconds had 70% longer sessions, 35% lower bounce rates, and 25% higher ad viewability than sites taking nearly four times longer at 19 seconds.”

Taking the data into account you should look to improve your mobile friendliness if you want to stay relevant and maintain your rankings, especially if your competitors have poor mobile website performance as this could give you an important advantage.

Want the In Front team to perform an in depth technical audit of your site to highlight any critical issues? Get in touch now!

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