le Search retires Web Light, Google’s method of serving lighter, faster pages to users //

Google has removed Web Light, Google’s method to speed up the delivery of pages and content to users with slower internet connections. It used a lighter version of the page to do so. Google stated that while this feature worked as intended and allowed for greater access to the richness, the increased affordability of powerful smartphones has reduced the need for such functionality.

What was Web Light? Google Lite was the name of Web Light, and it was launched by Google in 2015. Google would then take the page and remove most of the media and heavy images, and only show the text. Google added an 2018 Search Console filter to allow users to view the pages being served by Web Light.

Google’s message. Google stated that Web Light was introduced to make it easier to deliver lighter and faster pages to users with entry-level smartphones. Although this feature worked as intended, it has allowed for greater access to the richness and depth of the web. However, more powerful smartphones have made it less affordable. We are committed to improving the Search experience and adapting it to the changing needs of our users.

Retired Web light user agent. This news means that Google has retired the Web Light user agent “googleweblight”.

Documentation deleted. Google also removed help documentation for web lights. You can only access them by going to the Wayback Machine.

Why we care. Web Light was not popular with many publishers because they felt it brought in lower revenue, or none at all. Publishers don’t like web pages or content that aren’t as they want. This feature was subsequently removed.

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