It has been quite clear for some time that Google counts a website's speed as a factor or signal to be considered in its ranking algorithm. Now it is turning its attention to how fast webpages render on a mobile device. For the former, Google just launched a new web-based tool in Google Labs called Page Speed Online. Available for any browser, Page Speed Online analyzes the performance of web pages and gives specific suggestions for making them faster.

For Mobile Too

The tool comes with another feature: the ability to get Page Speed suggestions customized for the mobile version of a page, specifically smartphones. Optimizing for mobile performance can be even harder, or rather more critical, because of a number of factors, which include the relatively limited CPU capabilities of mobile devices and the high round-trip times of mobile networks, not to mention the growth of mobile usage, Good said.

Some recommendations for optimizing for mobile devices include eliminating uncacheable landing page redirects and reducing the amount of JavaScript parsed during the page load.

Wireless Providers Count As Well

Of course, the other half of the equation - the speed of the wireless provider - is completely out of web site developers' control. And this is a significant factor. Wired recently looked at data from tests run by Ookla to see which network was faster. The answer? AT&T, whose iPhone transfer rates were roughly two times faster than Verizon's iPhone. The AT&T iPhone's average download speed was 1,769 Kbps, and the average upload speed was 730 Kbps, it said, while the Verizon iPhone's average download speed was 848 Kbps, and the average upload speed was 506 Kbps.