• Sep 5, 2017

Website speed test claims put to the test

A recent article in a local paper came with the headline "Websites warned to get up to speed".

So one would expect the authors to be an exemplorary example of these techniques.
But no - and here lies the problem of self-procalimed "experts" - sometimes they are not - but they get away with the label and run with it.

The first test I did was validate their site - put simply validation means the code is tested to meet standards.

They had 2 title tags and a host of other errors like spaces in the phone number. Very sloppy - even the code looked sloppy.
A quick way to check code is to look at it - every page can be viewed - even a non coder can right-click (view page source) and have a look under the hood.
Is the code neat and ordered or is it a dogs hind leg?


John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google

What scripts are loading?

I boldly ventured to the contact us page and found a myriad of scripts loading that are not even used on the page.
Speed tests do not actually test these issues but imagine the pointlessness of being an architect and towing a cement mixer to every job (when you are not using it).

This site loads slowly and has too many embedded JS scripts

Compare to below the results speak for themselves -:

Site speed needs to be in context of the website

"Slow loading sites frustrate users and negatively impact publishers. In our new study, "The Need for Mobile Speed", we found that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load."
www.doubleclickbygoogle.com

We use SEO to enhance websites - SEO is about quality content on a quality platorm.

Speed tests are one of many factors Google take into account. Google has its own site speed test tools.
Google is quite focussed on the Mobile experience hence the need for responsive websites.

Eventually I did some speed comparisons and was less than impressed - so enough of that here are some examples of what we I can produce -:

Pool Care Gold Coast - website designed around a mobile experience. A one page site can enhance the mobile experience and can also work in Google.

Hearing Aid Prices - 1000s of sales and enquiries generated from this site - the first site in Australia to list hearing aid prices across major brands

Thyroid Treatment Gold Coast - simplicity and easy to read mobile friendly site about thyroid treatments - notice how the site folds up nicely on a mobile phone (you can simulate this by reducing the size of your browser).

Leadership Development Sydney - sites aimed at selling products or services in an authoritive manner need to be able to walk the walk (not pass a test with code that should not even be there anyway as per the example above)