Let’s verify if your website load times are acceptable to avoid losing major chunks of the audience.
A smartphone is generally the first device for anyone to step into the internet.
They are pocket-friendly (latest iPhones excluded) and MOBILE–you can take them anywhere. Besides, the batteries are lasting a whole day (and more) of heavy use.
And the screens are improving (ahh…the OLED panels), and computing is going increasingly powerful. Consequently, we’ll have lesser and lesser reasons to switch to PCs, except for academic or business purposes.
The bottom line: smartphones are everywhere and generate more than 50% of Google Search queries.
But are you prepared for your website to serve on mobile devices? Because you have to be fast, or people will simply flee to your competition.
Mobile network speeds (including 5G) are still no match for fiber internet. So, the web page may load quicker on a desktop but slower on mobile devices. You got to ensure your website is mobile-friendly, responsive, and serves the mobile version of the webpage.
As Google says:
- People are five times more likely to leave a mobile site if it’s not user-friendly.
- Around half of the visitors will leave if a page doesn’t load within 3 seconds.
You may consider the following to optimize your web page for mobile users.
Go responsive – A responsive web page ensures elements like a smaller image are served to reduce the overall page size, and page outlets are fitted to the device size/resolution for a better user experience.
Make Mobile-Friendly – It’s a must. Google considers this in their search ranking, so ensure the web page is designed to fit the mobile.
So here are some tools to end this speculation and see how a web page fares when it comes to smaller screens.
Geekflare
We aren’t trying to be biased here, but our own Geekflare website audit tool is underpinned by Google Lighthouse and is the simplest way to conduct a full website performance audit.
Geekflare website audit outputs:
- Real-time load simulation
- Page load time
- Time to the first byte
- Page size
- First contentful paint
- Blocking time, etc.
It quickly gives out a web page potency against important-to-Google matrices and suggests solutions to the problems, if found any.
You can right away check for Desktop and sign up (free) for mobile and tablet testing.
GTmetrix
GTmetrix is the most well-known web tool to get comprehensive evaluations of any web page.
The testing variables are decent and offer multiple locations, connection speeds, and over 30 simulated devices. A few more advanced options include HTTP authentication, cookies, resolution, device pixel ratio, custom DNS, etc.
The primary testing is based on Google Lighthouse, accompanied by a GTmetrix Grade based on overall structure and performance.
You can also opt to video record the real-time rendering and turn on adblocking to check its effect.
The report section presents the audit summary with separate sections for performance, structure, waterfall, video, and history.
The only downside is that mobile testing is a paid feature without any trial. However, you can get a taste for it by running the desktop evaluation for free.
DotCom
DotCom website speed test is more versatile to check if the subject webpage is loading efficiently from three different global locations (of your choice) at once.
At the onset, you can get parameters like the page load time, first meaningful paint, page size, etc. Subsequently, one can check every location for waterfall analysis showing every single request or the errors only.
And you don’t need a signup to get started. However, a free account gives you more power in multiple testing locations, report saving, and sharing.
WebPageTest
Catchpoint’s WebPageTest offers simple and advanced configurations to suit beginners and pros alike.
You have five tests, including for overall performance, lighthouse, core vitals, visual comparison, and traceroute, to evaluate any webpage without needing registration.
The simple settings are mostly about the platform, browser, connection type, etc.
The advanced configurations present options like connection speed, no. of runs, browser dimensions, ignoring possible SSL errors, video capture, test durations, and more.
Besides, you can add custom headers, inject JavaScript, block specific requests and domain names, check custom metrics, etc.
Lastly, WebPageTest has a generous free account you can sign up for to save reports and unlock more options, including 300 test runs from 30 global locations per month.
PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed is Google directly assessing a web page and reporting in your browser window for free. It runs both mobile and desktop checks at once for you to take a look side by side.
The report brings up web performance as per the Google-prescribed core web vitals such as largest contentful paint, first input delay, cumulative layout shift, time to first byte, etc., with detailed explanations about each parameter with the ideal values.
Afterward, you see individual scores for webpage performance, accessibility, best practices, and search engine optimization (SEO).
Personally, I would suggest PageSpeed for the developers as the output can easily overwhelm the beginners while making little sense about the possible troubleshooting.
mobiReady
Still in beta, mobiReady ranks your website on a scale of five with 5 being the best score and 0 the lowest.
Additionally, you get the page size and the detailed results indicating major and minor fails with the brief resolutions and the passes (things that work great).
The results are simulated using three smartphone types: high, mid, and low tier. While you can begin without signup, doing so grants access to past results and performance evaluation over time.
mobiReady is based on W3C, Yahoo’s YSlow, and Google’s PageSpeed protocols. The biggest strength is the clean interface and the integration of multiple standards for web performance audits.
Uptrends
One can deploy Uptrends to quickly complete an in-depth web page analysis based on W3C standards and Google Lighthouse.
The testing dashboard is neat, giving you the option to evaluate a webpage from the preferred location and the device with available network speeds.
The results sections highlight the Google PageSpeed score, load time, page size, core web vitals, W3C Navigation Timings, and more.
Subsequently, it shows the web page loading screenshots, waterfall analysis, object types with bytes consumed, domains, and response codes.
Overall, Uptrends is a very advanced testing kit with outstanding data presentation which leaves little to be desired.
DebugBear
DebugBear is another one banking on the Google Lighthouse standards to check web page performance.
The report showcases the core web vitals, page load timeline, and video recording.
Besides, you can take a look at the request waterfall, including third-party requests such as from ad networks, content delivery networks, etc.
SiteChecker
SiteChecker is a premium tool you can use with its 7-day free trial to scan a single webpage or the entire domain.
Under the hood, it’s not just a single tool but a vast collection to help you pay attention to multiple aspects related to a website’s general performance, including backlinks, SEO, uptime, safety, and more.
Its PageSpeed tool, like most others, is based on Google Lighthouse. Accordingly, you see core web vitals, followed by the parameters needing improvement and the ones which passed the audit successfully.
Finally, the report reflects on the page load time by content type, requests and size by content type, request and content size by domain, requests status code, etc.
The world has gone Mobile!
To summarize, there is no alternative to having a smartphone-friendly website. Users favor their smaller real estate for many reasons, including their portability, reliable performance, and whatnot.
These listed tools will assist in keeping you abreast of any pitfalls and indicate possible remedies.
However, the best is to go for a subscription and get it automated.
PS: If you’re still here, here are some tools to grade your website.
