Google Ranks Faster Sites Higher

Something new has popped up in Google's Webmaster Control Panel. It seems that Google wants us to measure the speed of our web sites (the time it takes for a web site to load).

What this means is the Google is now using web site speed to help determine ranking. In other words fast sites will rank higher than slow sites. This started as a rumor but it's now confirmed. Here's what Internet marketing site mashable.com had to say about it:

Back in November, we started hearing murmurs that Google was considering whether or not to factor site speed into its search ranking algorithm. In a blog post today, the search giant confirms it is now adding site speed to its list of criteria that could affect your Google ranking.

Three things cause a site to load slowly:

1. Too many web sites on a single Web server
2. A slow or crowded Internet connection from the web server to the web
3. Bloated html code on the site

Using speed to determine relevance is a good idea. Google wants to bring up quick loading sites. It makes for a better browsing experience. Google realizes that people that care put their web sites with premium providers. This eliminates cheap hosting services where everything is crowded and the sites are slow.

I tested one of our sites and here's what Google Webmasters Performance Measurement Tool said:

Site performance: You can use this information to improve the speed of your site and create a faster experience for your users. On average, pages in your site take 0.7 seconds to load (updated on Mar 14, 2010). This is faster than 95% of sites.

Slow loading sites are not cool. Now they won't get ranked at Google either.

All Internet Man hosted web sites just got a giant step up in web marketing. We've always worked to provide premium hosting on fast servers from a fast network. We do it because we take pride in what we do. Now it turns out our clients are going to be rewarded with better rankings because their sites loaded quicker. This is a good day.