How Google’s New Speed Update Will Affect Aviation Marketing and What You Can Do to Beat it

This month will see the universal rollout of Google’s latest algorithm, defined by them as the ‘Speed Update’. It has been designed to track website pages (regardless of platforms and build technology) that offer visitors the slowest user experience and promises to influence organic search rankings for those pages as a result.

A strong focus on mobile

The Speed Update algorithm has been introduced primarily to measure speed performance of mobile pages compared to desktop, recognising that user behaviour has changed in the past few years. Across the digital marketing industry, the use of mobile has grown exponentially, and it is still the case that many sites are not fully optimised for the mobile experience. With mobile expected to continue to grow further, Google is now pushing for full mobile optimisation.

Airports and aviation businesses around the world are recognising that the surge in mobile is particularly relevant to the aviation industry. With flight passengers relying heavily on mobile use, and common use airport systems having off-site applications, it makes sense to ensure that mobile is fully optimised for both loading speed and content relevance.

Content relevance is still leading the way

Google has, however, said that ‘the intent of the search query is still a very strong signal, so a slow page may still rank highly if it has great, relevant content.’ This has indicated that although speed is important, it is still content relevance that leads the way to successful organic aviation marketing.

When we look at content as marketing professionals, there is more to it than simply making sure the right keywords are in place. The new algorithm update will offer marketers an opportunity to look at the entire website performance, and assess optimisation as a holistic process, rather than just focus on site loading speed.

What can you do to improve user experience and speed on mobile?

As there are no formal tools yet to help determine which pages on your aviation website will be affected by the new algorithm, it is important that you look at the website assets, such as:

• Images
• Auto-play video
• Sounds or audio recordings
• Full page pop-ups

Poorly optimised images can significantly impact loading speed, especially on mobile devices. If rendering takes more than a few seconds (usually 3-4), then conversion can be adversely affected. This can also happen with video, audio and with the use of pop-ups. Consider removing these types of add-ons for the mobile experience, or make sure that they will render quickly by resizing or crunching images, for example.

All these things can contribute to a reduced user experience and will draw your potential clients away from you and onto the next competitor that gives them a better one.

How Averma Aviation Marketing can help

Averma Aviation Marketing understands how important mobile optimisation is for aviation businesses and works closely with our clients to make sure every part of the website real estate is fully optimised and ready to take on the competition.

With many years combined experience, our digital marketing aviation specialists already have a good insight into your business, whether you are an established, busy airport or a brand-new aviation communications provider. We know how to approach the optimisation of your website to target the right audience.

Let us help you, not only to beat the new Google algorithm – Speed Update – but to fully optimise your website and social media presence with content that delivers. Get in touch with the team today using our contact form to find out more.