Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by Jay Lo on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 01/03/2019).

How Google’s Mobile-Friendly Site Tester works

Recently I found that every time I run Google’s Mobile-Friendly Site Tester, it shows the slightly different results( for example, one time it said there were 12 pages not loaded, another time it said there are 9 completely different pages that were not loaded) Sometimes I even got "Page is no mobile friendly" and when I rerun it again it changes its mind and said it`s mobile friendly. I wonder how Google’s Mobile-Friendly Site Tester works and why this happens all the time. Thank you everyone :)
This question begins at 00:14:37 into the clip. Did this video clip play correctly? Watch this question on YouTube commencing at 00:14:37
Video would not load
I see YouTube error message
I see static
Video clip did not start at this question

YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

  • Michael Martinez: Well, I get fairly consistent but inaccurate results when I submit sites to it. The tool has problems with 3rd-party scripts and small image files. Could it be that you`re serving dynamic content via Javascript widgets? Perhaps a slideshow or something that changes content?
  • Jay Lo: Thank you Michael, I don`t think they use js to insert those resources becasue I can see them all in the source code using . However, they upload those images to WordPress and put absolute path to the src value, is how it go wrong?

    Also, according to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Site Tester, the Googlebot-smartphone can`t load them, so even it works properly for the users, do you think this will be a problem for SEO?

    Thank you Michael :)
  • Michael Martinez: Hard to say. Have you tried Fetch and Render in Google Search Console? If you see the page properly loaded there, I think the site will be okay. Absolute paths to images should be fine. Still, I`ve never had the tester complain about not being able to load images. Does it say what the problem may be? Perhaps the uploads directory is blocked?
  • Jay Lo: Thanks, they are fine in the GCS.

    So I think that the resources being said unable to load in GSC are the real problems.

    Thank you so much !
  • Doc Sheldon: Sometimes I see results vary widely from one test to another, as well. I have seen that most often when deferred loading was in play. I`ve also seen that Google seems to be "moody" about if/when it bothers to look at JS.
    Like Michael, I don`t see image loading issues, if uploads is blocked, I would think that might be an issue. But it should be consistent.
  • Noah Lopata: Use GTMetrix as well, they provide a better breakdown
  • Jay Lo: Thank you Noah, just run it with GTMetrix, super detail !!!

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 01/03/2019).