I’ve heard that page speed has an impact on SEO and Google ranks, but I don’t believe it. Has Google made any announcements about this algorithm? alternatively how do you quantify its impact? I mentioned this because, despite the fact that my website was slow to load, it was still on the first page of Google results for a variety of keywords. Any thoughts?
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Page speed is one of Google’s ranking factors.
Google mentioned as far back as 2010 that site speed was being included in their ranking algorithm.
I’ve seen this article on the topic.
That is the difficult part. Google uses very many factors in its ranking algorithms, speed it just one of those many.
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As @SamA74 said, It is extermely hard to know the impact.
Not only because we don’t know how much weight it has in Google’s algorithm but also a quick page will very likely affect the number of visits and revisits you get which also are taken into account by the algorithm.
In the same way that the organization of the contect affects to its use, and therefore visits, and therefore, the algorithm. Same way if the content is written as a boring essay, or it is interesting, etc.
Every little helps, I would say.
Does it impact? Yes.
How does it impact? well, we’re not sure, because they dont tell us this stuff, but I imagine to some degree its less about encouraging “who’s fastest” and more about discouraging long pageloads. Where the line of ‘long’ is, who can say, but even in non-SEO terms, long pageloads are bad news.
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In some cases, it really doesn’t matter. Only when you provide useful/better information. Although website speed is still a ranking factor for Google. But I believe you have to work on your website speed otherwise you lose your ranking.
This is an important point to consider. Too many people get too obsessed with SEO that they lose sight of what is really important, as in how actual visitors engage with your site.
Your site may rank well in spite of being slow, which may mean you are doing other things right in terms of SEO. But if slow page loads are creating bad UX for your human visitors, that will be to the detriment of your site achieving its goals, be that sales conversions or whatever.
The point I am conveying is that real human visitors are more important than any search bot or ranking algorithm. It is they who spend the money with you (or whatever the site’s goals). Search engines are just one of several means to an end to get real people to your site. SEO is not the be all and end all of site optimisation. Though many are brainwashed to believe it is. I might cynically say a myth perpetuated by those pedalling such services.
I don’t mean ignore SEO entirely, but see the bigger picture of how to make your site perform well to reach its goals.
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Yes definitely, page speed is very important for SEO. Google’s algorithm includes page speed as a direct ranking factor.
Yes, Page Speed is one factor in SEO and its impact on website ranking .
As the OP has never returned, and it seems there’s nothing new to say on the subject, I think it’s time to close the thread.
Thanks to all who contributed.
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