Google Chrome will reward fast-loading sites with 'fast page' badge

Google has announced it’ll soon start tagging fast-loading sites in its Chrome browsers. The first version to get this update will be the Android Chrome browser.

Pages deemed fast loading, according to Core Web Vitals, will receive a 'fast page' badge in the link context menu. Users can access the link context menu by performing a long press on any hyperlink on a webpage.

Core Web Vitals looks at three key metrics when determining if a site is fast or not:

• Largest Contentful Paint: The time it takes for a webpage’s main content to load.
• First Input Delay: The time it takes before a user can interact with a webpage.
• Cumulative Layout Shift: A page’s visual stability and the number of unexpected layout shifts a website has.

Sites that consistently meet or exceed the Core Web Vitals thresholds will receive the 'fast page' tag.

Because this tag is designed to help users on spotty internet connections know if a page will load quickly or not, only those who’ve activated “Lite” mode or turned on “Make Searches and Browsing Better” will see them.

Google is rolling the badge out on a limited basis on the Android Chrome 85 Beta, but a broader rollout will come soon. If you want to activate it now, you can type chrome://flags in the Chrome URL box and enable “Context menu performance info and remote hint fetching.”

There’s no word on when the 'fast page' tag will come to desktop.

Google Also announced it’ll make changes to curb the use of mixed forms, which are forms that live on HTTPS websites but transmit data outside of HTTPS. This puts the user’s sensitive data at risk of hackers, so Google will no longer offer autofill on them and will display an on-screen warning that the form is not secure.