Google has begun an initiative to help webmasters all over the web make their sites faster, and in turn make the entire web faster for everybody. This would reflect Google Co-founder Larry Page’s vision of people being about to surf the web as quickly as if they were flipping through the pages of a magazine.
Google is embarking on what one Googler says will be “a series of difficult advocacy steps” to help companies, ISPs, and webmasters contribute to making the web faster. Google has started by launching a site at code.google.com/speed, which serves as a resource for webmasters with tutorials, tips, and performance tools. To emphasize what Google is trying to do, they have also released this video:
In addition, one of Google’s familiar faces, Matt Cutts, is also pointing to a video in which he discusses page loading times and how they relate to search.
What impact do site load times have on Google’s rankings? Cutts says the short answer is “none.” If a site takes so long to load that Googlebot can’t even get a copy of it, then that will hurt, but if it’s a question of 1 seconds vs. 2 seconds, it is not a factor. Hear the rest of what Cutts has to say about it in the following clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3zmP0W26M0A few tips Cutts gives for faster load times include:
– Don’t include 40 different javascript files
– Don’t include huge images when you’re image size is only set to something small
– Gzip pages
It’s really about user experience. Cutts says not to look at it from a search engine ranking perspective “right now.” There is always the possibility that this will change in the future.
Getting the entire web to contribute to Google’s faster-web initiative is probably impossible. I think it’s a great concept, but there are simply too many people out there creating and abandoning sites, blogs, apps, etc. That said, I think there is plenty of room for Google (and all of is influence on the web) to make a huge difference.
Read more about ways Google plans to accomplish its goal
here. Of course they are open to ideas and discussion as well, and you can participate here. What do you think about the initiative? Share your thoughts with Murdok readers.
