Server response time: restructure the site or create the new one? SEO opinions needed.
-
Hi everyone,
The internal structure of our existing site increase server response time (6 sec) which is way below Google 0.2sec standards and also make prospects leave the site before it's loaded.
Now we have two options (same price):
- restructure the site's modules, panels etc
- create new site (recommended by developers)
Both options will extend the same design and functionality.
I just wanted to know which option SEO community will recommend?
-
Yes, correct - multiple CCS files & javascript will not affect server response time - I think ryan was referring to page load speed.
-
Hello.
Before starting from scratch, try to optimize Drupal. You have some simple things to do which speed Drupal amazingly:
- Go to Administer » Site configuration » Performance page, enable the option ""Aggregate and compress CSS files." and "Aggregate Javascript Files".
- On the same page, activate the cache: "Cache page for anonymous users" and "Cache blocks".
Try if it helps while you find the source of the problem.
-
There is one huge thing that is being missed here by both of you. The Google Insight grades on server response time. Server response time has no bearing on if a site loads 1 css file or 30 css files. It has not bearing on how many js files are loaded and if the parsing of them is deferred or not. If you follow all of the suggestions that pingdom gives you to the T, it will not affect your server response time one bit.
The only way to affect your server response time is going to be to reduce the processing time of your site. Not the loading time in the browser. To reduce your server response time you are going to have to explore server caching, mysql optimization, and things such as that.
This might help to read as well.
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2383341?hl=en
http://www.blogaid.net/server-response-time-vs-page-load-time-for-google-crawl
-
We'll make it as fast as possible! Thanks John. Just need to figure out if we should restructure the existing site, or make it from scratch.
-
Ryan
Yes. I do not worry about the speed variations - there are too many variables on each test. ie Which server did the test use?
My view on page speed is forget "time" and "time ranges" on various tools. If you have identified page speed as issue which you have focus on what you know you can and should fix. Don't just fix the minimum - on page speed fix the maximum. I believe page speed is a key factor on ranking.
-
John, thanks for the tool. Site has multiple CSS for the same types of content, too much of different modules, panels and blocks for the simple site. Btw, in Google page speed test it shows different time speed in the range between 2.1 sec and 6,5 sec. Have you ever seen this dependency?
-
Lesley is correct it is important to understand why the issues before you move forward.
I am not sure if you are familiar with tools.pingdom.com - but free test your site on tools.pingdom. Then review the performance tab - and see what your loading problems are. Also .2 of a second is best in class - if you can get below 2 seconds I would be happy with that. Not suggesting you do not go for .2 - just that it is onerous and likely not time efficient.
The positive is I have seen several times dropping a site from 6 seconds to 2 seconds gets me an uplift in rankings without doing anything else!
-
I am not familiar with Drupal, when you say you are restructuring is that something internal in Drupal? Or does that mean you are changing the page structure of your site, like for instance moving pages around? Or are you removing some widgets and things like that from pages?
-
It's Drupal 7. We don't redesign, we're restructuring. Yes, server takes too much time to generate the pages, they're dynamic.
-
Server response time is tied to two factors. The first one is the DNS look up, the second one is the time it takes your server to generate a page and spit it out. Generally both of those can be improved without having to redesign your site. What is your site currently developed in? Is it constantly changing?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What's your proudest accomplishment in regards to SEO?
After many years in the industry, you come to realize a few things. One of of the biggest pain points for us at web daytona was being able to give clients a quick keyword ranking cost estimation. After multiple trial and error and relying on API data from one of the most reliable SEO softwares in our industry, we were able to develop an SEO tool that allows us to quickly and accurately get the estimated cost for a given keyword (s) using multiple variables. Most agencies can relate to that story. It’s something my colleagues and I at Web Daytona have been through before. Finding the cost and amount of time needed to rank for a keyword is a time consuming process. That’s why it’s a common practice to sell SEO packages of 5-10 keywords for about $1000-2000 / month. The problem is not all keywords are equally valuable, and most clients know this. We constantly get questions from clients asking: “how much to rank for this specific keyword?” It’s difficult to answer that question with a pricing model that treats the cost of ranking every keyword equally. So is the answer to spend a lot more time doing tedious in-depth keyword research? If we did we could give our clients more precise estimates. But being that a decent proposal can take as long as 2-5 hours to make, and agency life isn’t exactly full of free time, that wouldn’t be ideal. That’s when we asked a question. What if we could automate the research needed to find the cost of ranking keywords? We looked around for a tool that did, but we couldn’t find it. Then we decided to make it ourselves. It wasn’t going to be easy. But after running an SEO agency for over a decade, we knew we had the expertise to create a tool that wouldn’t just be fast and reliable, it would also be precise. Fast forward to today and we’re proud to announce that The Keyword Cost Estimator is finally done. Now we’re releasing it to the public so other agencies and businesses can use it too. You can see it for yourself here. Keyword-Rank-Cost-Ectimator-Tool-by-Web-Daytona-Agency.png
Local Website Optimization | | WebDaytona0 -
Local SEO Over Optimization
We are targeting a bunch of services for our local business that works in and around their location. I'm concerned about over optimization and need some guidance on whether these points should be resolved. The company is based in a city and works mostly in the city but also in the surrounding areas. Currently, the site has 6 services pages (accessible via main nav) targeting the same location i.e. “Made Up Service London”, “Imaginary Service London” (with URLs and H1 tags etc. in place containing this location). However this is soon going to become 9 services pages, I am concerned that the repetition of this one location is starting to look spammy, especially as its where the company is based. Initially, I also wanted pages targeting the same services in other nearby areas. For example “Made Up Service Surrey”, “Imaginary Service Essex”. This has not happened as the info available has been too sporadic. I was going to add links to relevant case studies into these pages to beef up the content and add interest. To that end, we came up with case studies, but after a while, I noticed that these are also largely focused on the primary location. So out of 32 case studies, we have 19 focused on the primary location again with URL’s and H1 tags etc containing the location keyword. So in total, we have 25 pages optimized for the location (soon to be 28 and more if further case studies are added). My initial feeling was that the inclusion of pages targeting services in other locations would legitimize what we have done with the main pages. But obviously we have not got these pages in place and I question whether we ever will. What is my best course of action moving forward?
Local Website Optimization | | GrouchyKids1 -
What is the best way to differentiate and optimize two similar websites's SEO?
What is the best way to differentiate and optimize two similar websites's SEO, having in mind that they do not produce content?
Local Website Optimization | | EmmaGeorge0 -
Site is not ranking, please help.
For some reason, we have been fighting and fighting to get a website to rank and no matter what we do- nothing seems to work. I'm just taking over the website handle it personally, but was curious if anyone here had advice on what the issue may be. It isn't even ranking for its brand name, any ideas? http://estesroofingtx.com/
Local Website Optimization | | spadedesign0 -
What is the best CMS Approach for Multilingual Versions of Site?
We have expanded into France and Brazil and now have a someone in-house that can translate to French and Brazilian Portuguese. I own ".fr" and ".com.br" versions of our domain. We are using Wordpress for our CMS. We are currently publishing about 2 articles a week on English site which we would be translating and publishing through new international sites (when appropriate). We will be changing out photos and videos at times in addition to all the text/copy. So, before I jump deep into this I wanted to reach out for help regarding the best modern approach to this. Should I use some sort of WP Plugin that will let me manage each of these through 1 WP install or is it better to run each separately through multiple WP installs? I want to achieve this while... avoiding any duplicate content penalties. provide easy admin/editor management of publishing content. Any help/advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Local Website Optimization | | the-coopersmith0 -
URL structure for local SEO
Hi fokes, question; which url structure is best for local rankings. For example: when I want to rank on the keyword: "Plumber Londen". And I dont have plumber in my brand. What is the best url structure: example.com/plumber/londen example.com/plumber-londen
Local Website Optimization | | remkoallertz1 -
Perfect Site Structure help please and EMD question
Hello to all, I appreciate your time and trouble greatly, so thank you in advance. Question - 1 - I just watched a video regarding onsite <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym>. This video explained to instead of using a services page to list each service, instead if possible make a page and menu item for the most popular search terms. So my families business site is allspecialtybuildings.com We do construction. I currently have it setup to have a services page then the listings of the services with its own page under the menu. But from watching this video, would you also suggest that it would be best to take maybe the top 3 or 4 services, then list the services as actual page menus? So say instead of this: Service Menu Link -
Local Website Optimization | | Berner
-Pole Barns
-Indoor Riding Arenas
-Garages
-Horse Barns
-Loafing Sheds Would it be best to have each service as a menu in itself like this: Home
Pole Barns
-Pole Barn Construction
-Pole Barn Kits
-Pole Barn Color Charts Indoor Riding Arenas
-Indoor Riding Arena Construction
-Indoor Riding Arena Kits
-Indoor Riding Arena Color Charts Same- Different word
Same- Different Word So basically create specific and relevant pages and remove the popular pages from a service page. Not sure if this make sense, or is basically not needed? Last Question - Branding- I got 2 <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym> companies reviews back, and was told to change my branding and domain. See the issue is that the company name is All Specialty Buildings. So All is basically thrown out of some search results, almost like its a stop word. So "Specialty Buildings" shows up on many results. I would like to counter this. So I am curious if I get a new domain, like say something like ColoradoBarnConstruction.com Would this be a better domain for <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym> rankings and memory for people? Or would I risk an EMD penalty? When I look for dentists, or <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym> help, I get coloradodentist, or coloradoseo(dot)com's So they all rank well, I just want something brandable and easy to remember. I figured the company name would be best, But these companies that want 3500 a month for <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym> services are saying different. Again thank you for your time, your ideas, and your advice. Thank you Chris0 -
HELP, My site have more than 40k visits by day and the server is down, I do not want all this visits...
Hello... I have a website for a local spa in ecuador, this website have a blog with some tips about health... and suddenly one of the articles goes viral on south america profiels on FB and I am receiving 40k visits by day from other countries that are not interested to me because my site is for a local bussines in ecuador... I already block some countries by IP , but Im still receiving visits from other south america countries, for this reason My hosting server company put down my website and I can not put it back online beacuse this thousands of visits use more than the 25% of the CPU of the server and the hosting company put down my website again... I really need to know what to do, I do not want to pay for a expensive special server because all this visits from other countries are not interesting to me .and as I said before my bussines is local.
Local Website Optimization | | lans27872