If your website has a slow loading speed this could be due to poor coding. Google is soon to start flagging up these websites with a badging system which will inform users that the site is slow. The warnings will most likely be a text indication or a sign.
A recent blog written by Google stated that it was going to start helping users recognise a slow loading site, and reward sites for being quick and fast moving, which ultimately give users a better experience.
Google stated that it can now spot how a site has been coded a certain way that will make it load slower. Additionally pages can take longer to load because they are waiting for communication from other external sources, such as analytics or social widgets.
The text indications could appear along the lines of ‘loads slow’ or the visual sign could be that the colour of a progress bar changes to indicate that the page takes longer than others to load.
The blog stated that this new tool will be further improved over time and that ultimately it is being brought into play to help improve the way websites are created giving users a better experience.
There have been mixed responses to this new tool, some who have criticised it and labelled it as a ‘badge of shame’ and that they weren’t sure how easy it would be to actually identify what makes a website load slowly.
However, for now we will continue to stay ahead of the game and work hard at ensuring our websites are as speedy as possible!