Page Speed – The Affect It Has on SEO

Page Speed Affect On SEOThe driving factors that make page speed so important are the user’s that are searching on the Internet. That’s right…it’s not Google’s fault, their goal is only to satisfy their customers. Their research showed them how important this has become, hence the reason for implementing it.

This shouldn’t be too hard to believe, because you don’t have to look very far to realize it. Just reflect on your own habits for a minute. Go with me in the theatre of your mind and let’s imagine:

You just entered your search term into the search engine and there you have several options to choose from. You begin reading the title’s and descriptions to see which one is most relevant, then…there it is…the one that stands out the most. Now, you select it and what happens next is why page speed and the effect has on SEO is important. Let us continue, the site doesn’t load and you have already waited five whole seconds…what do you do? Do you wait?! No! You go back to the search results and begin searching for another option, don’t you? There you have it…now all of us SEO’s have lots more work to do all because of YOU! Ok…I’m just joking, it’s not all your fault because we all do it.

How to Improve Page Speed

I do want to make this statement before we get started. It is unlikely that you’re going to have perfect scores using the techniques I’m about to recommend, instead focus on a target. If you can get your site in the high 80’s or 90% tile, you’ll be doing great! I can recall the first time going through this process; I have to admit that it took me a while to work through some of the tasks that these tests generate, yet the hard work has paid off. That’s why I want to share what we learned here at IMPROZ because page speed and the effect it has on SEO is important.

There are some awesome tools out there that you can use to test your page speed. These are my favorites:

I’m not going to get into every factor that you’re likely to see once you do the test, however. I’d like to give you some insight and some actionable things you can do to make some big improvements. These are my top recommendations:

  • Get an Apache dedicated server with Total Choice Hosting-Though, having a dedicated server isn’t an algorithm for any of the search engines, the response of your server is a factor. Not to mention, the techs at TCH really understand what you are trying to accomplish and can help you get there. The important thing here is that their customer service is superior compared to the competition.
  • Install Google’s Page Speed Module on Your Server-Many of the items that you will find on the page speed results from the tools I just recommended will be addressed once you add this module.
  • Lastly, re-size your images to the exact dimensions of the container that it’s going to be placed in and export the image as a .png file.

These three steps will keep you busy for a while. What is important is that you get started on them and begin to optimize your website’s performance, because page speed and the effect it has on SEO can play a major role, although. Don’t forget it’s not just the search engine’s you’re trying to please. The most important factor to keep in mind is the web user.

Are you having trouble accomplishing these tasks or would like to discuss your Internet marketing goals?  We’d enjoy discussing them with you. Contact us by calling: 832-209-2211 or by filling out the form to the right of this page.