The speeds of mobile and fixed wireless internet have declined in February 2023 compared to the previous month, according to the Speedtest web service’s latest survey on global internet speed.
Data released by Speedtest.net show Iran’s internet speed (according to the median index) settled one place lower for fixed wireless internet while that of mobile declined by five spots compared to the previous month.
The website used two median and mean (average) indicators to measure the ranking and quality of internet worldwide. The mean index is the average, but the median is the middle point of statistical data. It claims that global rankings are reported based on median download speed “to best reflect the speeds a user is likely to experience in a market.”
Iran’s fixed internet speed ranked 147th (out of 180 countries) while mobile internet speed was at 61st place (out of 137 countries) in February.
Median fixed internet download speed is currently 11.27 Mbps, upload speed is 1.97 Mbps and latency is 30 milliseconds. This is while the median mobile internet download speed is 35.03 Mbps, upload speed is 10.5 and latency is 29 milliseconds.
According to Speedtest, the median global mobile internet download speed is 39.77 Mbps, upload speed is 10.18 Mbps and latency is 28 milliseconds. On fixed internet, the download speed is 78.62 Mbps, upload speed is 34.39 Mbps and latency is 9 milliseconds.
The UAE’s median mobile internet download speed stood at 179.61 Mbps in February to rank first in the world. It was followed by Qatar with 160.33 Mbps, South Korea with 138.46 Mbps, Norway with 131.23 Mbps, Denmark with 123.66 Mbps, Kuwait with 119.79 Mbps, China with 116.7 Mbps, the Netherlands with 114.28 Mbps, Saudi Arabia with 101.88 Mbps and Bahrain with 97.6 Mbps.
For median fixed internet speed, Singapore ranked first with 237.15 Mbps.
China with 226.77 Mbps, Monaco with 226.03 Mbps, Chile with 224.44 Mbps, the UAE with 219.47 Mbps, Thailand with 203.28 Mbps, Denmark with 200.62 Mbps, Hong Kong with 198.53 Mbps, the US with 198.53 Mbps and Spain with 180.3 Mbps came next.
The Iranian government has launched a fiber optic project to improve the quality of fixed internet and eliminate the backlog of internet registration by expanding facilities for users and operators.
Bans, Controls on Websites Challenging SEO Specialists
Bans and restrictions on some websites are posing challenges to Search Engine Optimization) specialists in Iran, a recent report shows.
Specialists use SEO to increase the rank of webpages in search engines like Google. It helps increase traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural surfing in search engines.
According to the comprehensive SEO report, which has been published in cooperation with 541 SEO managers and specialists by Triboon, filtering poses the biggest challenge as it accounts for 78% of all problems in this field, Peivast reported.
Web filtering in Iran has been legitimized by the implementation of Internet Protection Plan (which limits the internet to domestic sites) and Internet Classification Plan (in which only designated groups of people are allowed access to some websites).
The 20% update of Google algorithms and 18% lower efficiency for backlinks are other factors undermining domestic SEO.
Another problem is that the average income of female SEO specialists in Iran is 60% lower than that of male specialists.
Based on this report, 61% of SEO specialists have a monthly income ranging from 50 million rials ($109) to 180 million rials ($394). This is while the monthly income of female SEO specialists is between 50 million rials ($109) and 100 million rials ($219). In general, the average monthly income for women and men is 100 million rials ($219) and 160 million rials ($350), respectively.
Iranian SEO specialists name “creation of a useful and high-quality content” as the most effective factor in boosting a site’s ranking in the fiscal 2022-23. It was followed by “technical SEO”, “user experience” and “internal SEO”.
Improved keyword ranking, the rise in organic traffic and higher sales were among key factors used by SEO experts to measure the success of their initiatives. While employers and companies expect SEO schemes to increase online sales, it is the third factor measured by SEO specialists to check their effectiveness.
According to the report, while most SEO experts are employed as SEO specialist in companies, 26% are employed as SEO manager and 21% are employed as senior expert.
The report’s statistics indicate that the cost of content creation in the fiscal 2022-23 has increased compared with the previous fiscal.
SEO specialists claim that they spend most of their budget on "content creation", "fixing technical issues of the site" and "advertising".
