Loading ...SEO experts have suspected for a few years now that the speed of a site has some effect on its rankings. It’s only logical. Google and the other search engines have made it clear that they favour sites that are pleasing to internet users. This would naturally include sites that download swiftly and operate without error. What hasn’t been certain is exactly how this could affect a site’s ranking.
Things have become slightly clearer now that Google has announced on their Official Google Webmaster Central Blog that site speed is definitely being taken into account in rankings calculations. The company made the announcement in their blog on April 9, 2010, stating that as a further step toward a speedy net, the search engine would now include site speed as a new signal in the algorithm.
The search engine is being a little disingenuous in making this announcement, as it is clear that speed has been an important factor in the search algorithms for some time. Although it’s true that it was never cut and dry, that a speedy site was guaranteed a higher ranking than a slow one, search engine optimisation professionals did notice that clients experienced better rankings if they made their sites faster.
Let’s face it, a speedy site was always going to do better with the search engines because speed is only the outward sign of a site’s overall function. SEO companies have been doing their best to speed up client sites since almost the start of SEO, because a streamlined site is one which a search engine spider can crawl more effectively. An efficiently performing site is also one that is less likely to lose users after they click through.
The Google post noted some online tools that site owners can make use of when they have a need for speed. There are some really good free tools around that you can use to check the performance of your web pages, and some of them offer suggestions of areas that could do with some improvement. Many of the more popular browsers, and even Google and Yahoo! themselves, have add-ons that you can use to evaluate site performance. Shop around to see which one suits your needs, or talk to a professional if you’re uncertain.
If you’re consulting an SEO firm to perform your site’s optimisation, analysis of your site’s performance should make up part of your SEO campaign. You can discuss this aspect of SEO with us at SEO Consult Australia.
Google was careful to note that the introduction of the speed factor would not have a massive effect on sites across the board, and urged site owners not to drop relevant content in favour of speed. The company noted that it expected the change to only affect around one percent of queries for the moment. This may be true, but having a slow site is not going to be of benefit to any site owner. Checking your site speed should be a part of your SEO plan.
Related posts:
- It’s official: slow sites lose ranking
- Should speed be a ranking factor in search results?
- Site Performance added to Google Webmaster Tools
- Why Australians Need Speed for Good SEO
- Getting great rankings
Tags: blog, content, SEO, SEO campaign, SEO Consult Australia, seo firm
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