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After announcing the Google Page Speed tool, it dawned that if Google takes page speed seriously, does it form part of their search engine algorithm? The theoryWhen Google talks about ranking websites, it mentions the word 'relevance'. So, in their Search Engine Optimisation guidelines they encourage us to think about relevance for the user, not manipulation for the sole benefit of rankings. So if a website is quick loading and doesn't suffer from downtime, does this make it more relevant for a user? The reality is, we'd all have to say "yes". Slipping through the netWhen Google's spider crawls your website its of course imperative that its functioning, otherwise the spider reads nothing. If that happens just once, you may not suffer any loss, but if your server is so slow it times out often, Google may not re-index your website. Of course, in the name of relevance, if your website can't be read by Google, it can't be used by a person, so there isn't much point showing it. Your rankings will consequently slip. So does page speed affect rankings, or not?Now, we can't find anything conclusive to tell if the differential in page speed affects rankings, but if you run a Google AdWords campaign, there is conclusive evidence that loading speed does have an impact. In March 2008, Google announced that landing page loading time would affects AdWords' 'Quality Score.' Things like multiple redirects, slow servers and other aspects that affect loading time would all be judged. Ultimately, if your Quality Score is too low, you can't display adverts. What should I be doing?With Google clearly showing loading time as a concern, its best to ensure you meet Page Speed guidelines now rather than later, just in case the algorithm does account for page speed. As well as checking your hosting situation, can you attribute any slow loading times to the design? Does it include lots of inaccessible (irrelevant) images? You can test your website by using products like Yahoo's YSlow or Google Page Speed.
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