Technology

Posted on June 6, 2018 by staff

UK eCommerce at risk from Google update

Technology

New research suggests that 87 per cent of the UK’s top retailers could risk losing site visibility due to a slow mobile site.

The research assessed 245 top UK eCommerce retailers six and 12 months ago and found that few had made steps to decrease the loading time of their mobile website.

The report, from eCommerce and digital marketing agency Visualsoft, follows a Google announcement that the company will  consider mobile site speed in its ranking procedure.

“Even with the increased pressure of Google’s ‘Speed Update’ looming in July, and the continual demise of online retail giants such as Tesco Direct, it’s concerning that retailers aren’t taking action to secure their spot in the search engines,” said Gavin Lowther, head of digital at Visualsoft.

“There is a huge opportunity for those new into the market to reach top positions if they keep speed high on their list of priorities, ahead of even the biggest retailers – especially the ones ignoring the significance of site speed to the end user experience.

“However, all is not lost for these more experienced retailers; with a small review of your site and implementation of some of our quick-win recommendations, retailers can see their site speed take a turn for the better.”

Google’s new update will assess mobile site speed, and give mobile websites which load in under four seconds a higher probability of appearing on the front page.

The research reports that the average speed for the UK’s top retailers currently sits at 11 seconds.

The company suggests that for every additional second it takes a mobile page to load, conversions can drop by up to 20 per cent.