Is a known fact that Google uses page speed as a ranking factor, but how much is really matters the site speed in reaching first places in Google, does site speed has a big impact in ranking my site? This are some of the question that I will try to answer in this article.
Some of the reader suggested to add on the list: Things that Google Loves Most on Your Site the site load speed. I admit that when I have first started blogging I had no idea of anything about SEO and what are the factors that helps you rank high in search engines. Thats why I want to brake down what I learn and help the ones that are at beginning.
How Important is Site Speed in SEO ?
The fact is that Google does not take that much into consideration the load speed of your site. It counts less then 1% in their algorithm, at least this is what they are saying on their official blog :
“While site speed is a new signal, it doesn’t carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. Currently, fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal”
My recommendation is not to stress to much if you don’t have a grate site speed, at least from search engine ranking at least. Quality and unique content, combined with powerful backlinks will surely do the trick and help you in reaching Google first page.
Of course that site speed is important for your visitors and that’s why is important for your site to have a good response. Below are some articles that can help you in making your site more faster:
- Make WordPress Load Faster – Speed Up Website
- Make Your Site Really Fast With Self Hosted CDN and Google CDN
As long as it don’t take the page 15sec to load then the time doesn’t’ matter that much..I have heard this for years now..so speed is not a factor..
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
TrafficColeman last post ..EzineArticle New 400 Word Minimum – Goolge Panda Attacked
hmm, I thought “site speed” play an important role, after reading this article, my assumption was wrong..
Tom solo last post ..nVidia GTX 590 will be released on March 22nd
I think that site speed does not have much affect on SEO directly but if our site is slow, the readers will be drove away for sure. And it may affect our SEO if Google looks into the visiting time.
Dana last post ..5 Cheap Touch Screen Cell Phones With Good Quality
yah, i think so.. but, how to make a simple site so that we can access it fast?
Business Marketing Ace last post ..Small Business Grants Are Very Attainable
Site speed is an important factor in SEO, site speed itself wont affect the algorithm that much but there are other factors like bounce rate, time on page, user interactions that depends on site loading speed and they do contribute to the rankings.
Nishadha last post ..Email marketing in Sri Lanka- how to capture leads and build your mailing list
I use a plugin called CSS Compress, which will really help your blog speed.
I might add that you can increase your load speed by not using too many widgets on your site, especially those that are repeating , such as an archives widget along with a most recent post widget, they just take up valuable space and decrease speed. Since I have a tendency to sometimes use TE’s for traffic, my blog load time of less than 4 seconds makes all the difference to a surfer.
A great post Dragos, because as for Google looking at that as good or bad, I just thought they might but didn’t really know for sure.
Thanks…:)
Dan Reed@internet marketing secrets last post ..Internet Marketing Tip Prospect Geyser Review Free Lead Generation
Site page load speed is definately a ranking factor, however small it is in very competative markets every tiny bit of ranking power can help, it was recently stated by a Google emplyee that there are (as we all know) 200 odd ranking factors… but then he went on to say that – within thos 200 factors there ‘could’ be anothere 20 areas in each!
This would equate to 4,000 ranking factors that the algo’s take into consideration!… So lets say the holder of number 1 on Google for the very competative search term you are targeting, yet they only have 3,999 factors spot on… If page load time was the missing factor HOW IMPORTANT WOULD IT BE TO GET THAT ONE RIGHT THEN !!
Anything that is considered a positive in Google’s eyes is a MUST for expert SEO campaigns to be sucessful, site speed is also very important for end users, if I visit a site that takes ages to load however interested I was in seeing their content simply put I’ll be off before the page even loads, it’s just not acceptable to have slow loading pages.
Hey Dragos – how do I get an avatar to work here, can’t seem to see the info, I’m prob acting blind! lol.
A good interesting post by the way too
Hey, if you want to have an avatar for the comments pictures then you have to go to Gravatar.com and create an account there, choose a avatar(picture) corresponding to a email address. Afterworlds when you will use the email address and you will put a comment the picture will appear. Good luck
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I have been tempted to try CDN but it just stays on my “to-do” list. You recommended it a while ago, I remember. Maybe when I have a backlog of blog posts ready to go…
I just wonder how long it takes to set up CDN, especially for a self-hosted blog.
Art of RetroCollage last post ..The New Pharos
I have do it in just one hour with the help of W3 Total Cache, is very easy and you will not have downtime or stuffs like that. If you need help let me know.
What does your site speed depends on? On the internal characteristics of your site/blog as well that should be optimized, so Google will take it into account. And may be that’s only 1 % for google, but it weights more for visitors. I personally hate when a site is slow, and I hardly come back there again.
I agree with the points raised here. However, I do believe that site speed is something that should be worked on continuously as well. Loyal followers will continue to be loyal if user experience is consistent. And I don’t think that’s possible to maintain if your website runs slow.
If your site speed is lousy, you’ll have a high bounce back rate and that’s a negative for Google SEO.