Updated: February 27, 2019
In a post from way back on December 4th, we alerted you to a new addition to Google’s ranking algorithm – site speed.
At the time, Google added site speed to their Webmaster tools utility, comparing your site against others in your niche in terms of how fast they load. At that time, Google said it would be adding this factor to its algorithm in the coming months.
Well that day has arrived so now we can begin to get a clearer picture on how this will affect rankings. Will faster loading sites enjoy rankings over another site that may take a second longer to load?
According to various forums on the topic that have been brewing through today since the implementation of this factor was announced last Friday, this new ranking factor should hardly impact anyone except for a few specific queries (that we don’t know about right now unfortunately). In fact, the change has been in play for about 2 weeks so you would know by now if page speed is affecting your rankings.
Google will measure page speed two ways: (1) How a page responds to the Googlebot and (2) Load time as measured by the Google Toolbar.
Different posts on WebMasterWorld, DigitalPoints and Google Webmaster forums confirm that this isn’t a major factor in the over 200 elements that make up Google’s ranking algorithm. However, there are some good tips in there if you think you’re rankings are being affected by this change.