Google made it official on Friday when they announced that speed would be one of the factors when determining relevancy and therefore search rankings http://bit.ly/9sBY9o. Google flagged this up last year and also added site speed performance in Webmaster Tools. We have been treating it as part of our ongoing management of client sites since then. Although it should be noted by all Web site owners that speed is another area to keep an eye on but realistically it will only be the very slow sites that will notice a downgrading in positions. However by monitoring it you will be able to spot potential problems before they effect your positions.
Google has added speed of a site as a ranking factor as their own research shows that users don not like slow loading sites. Visitors spend less time on slowly responding sites and Google has seen this from their own internal studies according to their announcement. That is interesting as it means Google must be tracking how long a user stays on a site before hitting the back button or tracking them through Google Analytics. Either way the message from Google is that if it is good for your users then it is good for your search rankings.
As a Site owner what should you do to see your site is performing slower than other Web sites? Webmaster Tools has a site performance section that will show you quickly and easily how you are doing (image below). If you are running slow your first port of call should be your hosting company and make sure there aren’t any issues with the server. You may also want to review just how much you have running on the site and do away with resource hungry flash or reduce image file size.
Speed is part of our overall management of a Web site – make it part of yours!
