For years there have been rumors that Google would at some point make page speed a factor in search rankings, giving better search rankings to faster loading sites and lower rankings to slower loading sites. But the question remains…
Does Page Speed Affect Search Rankings Now?
Yes, at least to some extent. Google officially announced page speed as a ranking factor back in 2010.
However, Bryson Meunier recently shared the results of some research in which he analyzed the Page Speed of the top 1,000 sites with the most organic search traffic. He used Google’s Page Speed test on those 1,000 sites and compared those scores.
The Google Page Speed test returns a score between 0 and 100 for each site. So what was the average score of the top 1,000 sites? 55. Not particularly impressive. Here’s how the scores charted.
Bryson concluded:
It seems that top-ranked sites are very similar to other sites that don’t rank well when it comes to mobile page speed. What this means is that at the moment, page speed on mobile is much less important than a number of other signals that determine ranking.
But Wait! Page Speed Still Matters Because…
While the impact of Page Speed on search rankings is debatable, there’s no doubt it has a huge impact on user experience and visitor retention.
David Moth of Econsultancy reported this chart which shows how conversion rates dramatically drop as load times increase:
The bottom line is page speed and load times do matter. I encourage you to use Google’s Page Speed test. Not only does it give you a speed test score, but it provides recommendations on how to improve your website’s load times.
Web Design and SEO Working Together
Page speed is another example of how your website’s design affects its search rankings (along with mobile-friendliness and many other design factors). Because of the way web design and SEO are interrelated, it’s beneficial to hire a company that understands and provides both. OurChurch.Com offers website packages that include web design, SEO, hosting and a domain name, so when you have questions or want to take that next step you know exactly who to talk to.
Your take?
- What is your website’s score in Google’s Page Speed test?
- What if anything are you going to do about it?
11 Comments
Thanks for the information.I agee with your point website speed matters. Users don”t have time to spend whole time on one slow website .
Hi Paul, thanks for your great article again, yes maybe page speed affect the seo result, but maybe not much affect it, just a little 🙂 Of course more fast site is more better for ranking I think 🙂
Page speed is so important. If you do get visitors to your website then it makes sense to have the pages loading fast. Alternatively the obvious happens and the Visitor just can’t wait and moves on
Agree with you 🙂
Indeed page speed matters a lot, not only for SEO purposes, but also to the viewers/visitors.
I prefer to use gtmetrix or webpagetest than google’s pagespeed insights. Something is just not that correct with google’s pagespeed insights.
Hi Paul! thanks for a great article. I was wondering, how do we improve a page speed? less plugins? no sliders? what is your number one tip?
My number one tip is to use Google’s Page Speed test – https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ – and then follow their advice on the “should do” items they list for your website.
Thanks a lot Paul!
Page speed is very impotent for SEO. I like to utilize gtmetrix or webpagetest than google’s pagespeed bits of knowledge. Something is quite recently not that right with google’s pagespeed bits of knowledge.
As a Seo analyst, i always believe page speed is important to get a traffic and ranking. People gets irritated when there is too much of flash works in the designing part so most of the time suggest them to have SEO friendly website.
Yes, page speed is playing very important role in the keywords ranking, Mostly i will use Google’s Page Speed test tool to optimize the page speed.