Google recently added site load speed into it’s ranking algorhytm. According to Google, the site speed will only play only a small part in the rankings and the biggest emphasis is still on the content and inbound links.
Although this change may only affect 1% of the search results, having a faster loading website could make the difference between the first and second place in the search results.
There is another, more obvious reason to optimize the load speed of your website. There is a direct correlation between website’s speed and the amount of time visitors spend on it (Source: Internal study by Google, Additional resources at O’Reilly Radar). Faster loading website means more more visitors, more hits and more enquiries.
Please see our post with tips how to make website load faster for more in-depth information.
Although site speed has become integrated into the algorithm, Google still puts tremendous emphasis on relevant content and incoming links. The addition of site speed will only affect a small percentage of search queries performed. Is is therefore still important to create valuable content and build inbound links that will return the best user experience for the visitor.
Tags: Google, Search Engine Optimization, Search engines, SEO, Technology, Trends, Web Design, Websites