True or False Friday: SEO & Page Load Time

Waiting for a website to load can be quite the annoyance. I mean, this is the internet, right? Aren’t we supposed to just be able to click a link and, BOOM, the page instantly shows up? Ideally, that is how things should be when it comes to page load time. No one likes sitting around waiting for something they want. Chances are that if you are waiting too long, you’ll just click over to another, faster site. Okay, so we understand page load time is a big factor in usability, but what about SEO?

Search engines use page load time as a ranking factor, which would effect your SEO efforts; true or false? TRUE!

Search engines, especially Google, consider sped up websites as a very important element. Faster sites mean happier users when compared to slower sites. The faster a site is, the longer the user is likely to stay on compared to a slow site. Now that you understand why page load time is important, here are a few tips to help decrease the time it takes for your website to load:

• Decrease the size of your web pages
• Increase bandwidth and transfer rate
• Upgrade or move your hosting package

It’s important to avoid unhappy website users and being penalized by the search engines for slow page time. If you feel your page is loading slow, then try the tips above to see if they help. If not, feel free to contact us for some help.