Google’s Speed Update and How It Works
At the beginning of the year, Google announced some new changes in the works, among which was a speed update. This left many site owners wondering just how this latest algorithm change would affect their ranking, if at all. While things sounded cut and dry to begin with, it seems like Google’s latest change isn’t exactly black and white. Here’s what you should know about the speed update and how it could affect you.
Speed has always been a bit of a ranking characteristic for Google, at least since 2009 for standard sites. It hasn’t, however, been a factor in determining the ranking of mobile sites, which have become incredibly popular in the past few years. So, beginning this month, Google is making some changes to their speed ranking algorithm, which will include mobile searches.
Why Does Speed Matter?
Some site owners are wondering what the big deal is regarding site speed. The thing is, it’s been proven time and again that internet users aren’t willing to wait for a page to load if they can potentially find the same exact information somewhere else, and you almost always can. From news to the latest buys in fashion and tech, for every one site there are twenty just like it further down in your search query results.
The standard wait time for an internet user waiting on a page to load is approximately 3-seconds. That’s 3-seconds of waiting for images, videos, and other content to load properly before they essentially give up and move on. Therefore, Google has made speed a priority factor for ranking, although not the most important factor. Sites will still be graded heavily regarding genuine and relevant content, user interest, and things such as keywords, backlink, indexes and tags.
Improving Site Speed
Your site isn’t quite up to par with others in your industry in terms of speed? Don’t worry just yet, there are ways to fix this and catch up quick. The first step is to check your speed using a tool like TestMySite to determine which areas require help as far as Google is concerned. It will tell you about your speed for both 3G and 4G connections and help you optimize it. Changing your site to an AMP or accelerated mobile pages model is a great way to reduce wait time and minimize the code which has to load vs a typical HTML page.
Focusing on local sites, pages with popular keywords, and pages which you see are visited more frequently than others is a great place to start. You don’t want to lose traffic by missing out on those who would exit your screen before the content loads, and you certainly don’t want Google to forego your place at the top of a results list for lack of speed.
What Does Google Say on the Matter?
Google has reported that these changes won’t affect desktop searches and that only a small percent of queries overall will be impacted by the change. While there will be an impact to sites which run more slowly than others, speed is a small ranking factor, and not the first one Google uses to rank a page. Google has also stated that this change shouldn’t impact those with high speeds at all, as they won’t see much movement in their ranking due to the change. For those sites with incredibly low loading speeds, however, it could be a problem.
So far, the response to this latest algorithm change has been met with confusion and a bit of frustration from site owners and searchers. A few comments seen online regarding the change imply that Google is being contradictory in the announcement in the first place, saying that if the change won’t affect users, why is there a change at all? Others are concerned that this will affect their business and ranking in an unfair and drastic way despite Google suggesting that only a small amount of users will be penalized.
The notion stands that if Google changes the ranking based on loading speed, there will be movement, and even minor changes to ranking could affect many people across the board. Those at the top of their field could find themselves slipping to second or third in their query results page. Of course, as mentioned above, and as Google has confirmed, speed is one of the last specifications which Google uses to rank site owners. Here are the categories to consider before speed:
Content Quality: Is your content genuine, relevant to your site, and being updated regularly? If so, you should have no problem passing on this algorithm check.
User Opinion: Is your site featured on other sites, mentioned in comments, receiving shares and likes via social media? Google takes all of this into consideration when ranking your page. From comments and reviews to local business listings.
Maintenance and Good Standing: Has your site received penalization from Google in the past? Is it being left unattended and not updated for long periods of time? If so, this will negatively impact your ranking. Links to your page should all be active, just as links from your page should take a user where they say they will.
Page Speed: Finally, the length of time it takes for your site to load everything a user wants to see. It may not be the most important ranking factor, but it’s still a factor considered by Google.
So, in the end, how much will this latest speed update affect your site ranking in 2018 and 2019? Google says it shouldn’t be too big of a problem, but only time will tell.