Boost if loading website under 1 sec
-
Hello,
Can I increase my ranking if my website loads in under 1 second ?
Thank you,
-
Thank you for the detailed explanation. I agree with you there is probably more a penalty if you are slow than a bonus if you are fast or average.
-
I have increased our speed dramatically by getting an upgrade to our server from our hosting company. I noticed a big increase in traffic and ranking for the pages that were slower than 10s in total but you have to be aware that there are lots of different metrics surrounding speed and what you are seeing inside google analytics can sometimes be confusing.
For example, there are metrics for the time it takes for the entire page to load but I have a plugin called 'lazy-load' that loads all the above the fold content immediately and is smart about loading bigger items further down the page. There are lots of tools if you google 'waterfall speed test' or something similar which will show you precisely what's slowing the page up.
But under 5 seconds is fine and we have many number one national and local rankings loading in 5, 6 and sometimes 8 seconds depending on the volume of traffic.
It's more of a 'penalty for being slow' than a 'prize for being fast' although a really quick loading website is impressive from a user perspective.
The next month I migrated our site to HTTPS and saw an immediate bump in rankings across the board, so this is one where google is giving out algorithmic love - if you like.
Also be aware of mobile loading times vs desktop and make sure you divide it up into countries and localities. These types of data dimensions in google analytics will give you a much better picture.
I've found that if someone really likes what they see in the SERP, so a strong headline and meta description, nice data markup (schema) and additions like sitelinks or hyperlinks to their precise search then they will wait longer for a page to load. And the only way to really test this is with hotjar or a recording tool so you can see what users are actually doing on the site.
I would also look at bouncerate or 'adjusted bounce rate' if you google adjusted bounce rate you can set a timer after 10 or 20 seconds and discount people who are reading your article, getting what they want and then bouncing. Because these are not seen by google as bounces but are in analytics. It's east to set up and there's a guy called 'measureschool' where I learned how to do it, it's a step by step thing.
So I would consider focussing your energies elsewhere for a while to try to move the dial in the right direction. Because sub 1 second is crazy fast. Even for AMP.
-
Good to know that 5 seconds is still good. That you very much for the detailed explanation.
-
Well there are few "loadings website" parameters - TTFB (time to first byte), initial rendering or document complete.
It's great if TFFB is under 1s including network connection and DNS resolving.
It's fantastic if initial rendering is closer to 1 sec too.
Would be great if document complete is near 3-4-5 secs.But this won't help you with ranking... well just little bit even insignificant.
But that would help you in CRO because users want to visit faster sites. -
It is good to know. I thought getting from 4 second to 1 second would help but apparently it doesn't much but is more for the user from what I understand.
-
Nope. The use of page speed as a (minor, and very specific) ranking factor doesn't work that way. Never has.
Page speed only applies to a small percentage of search queries and it's used as a disqualifier for really slow pages (think over 15 or 20 seconds). Meaning if your page is really slow compared to your competitors, their page will likely be preferred over yours. But small incremental improvements in page speed won't result in ranking boosts. (And Google's on record as saying that even slower pages will earn SERP results if they're content is significantly better for the user's query.)
Improve page speed for the usability of your site, not because a small incremental speedup will change rankings.
Hope that helps?
Paul
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
-
New blog on a separate server to the main website?
We have a potential client who operates a jobs board in a niche sector in the UK. They want to start a blog but don't want to set it up on the same server as the main jobs site. Discussion started around Wordpress, and their preference is for the WP.com hosted version in a directory or subdomain of the TLD. Our concerns are around the different locations of the two sites (impact of two diff server locations and IP addresses?) but also the limitation of WP.com to interlink the two sites enough that they provide a decent customer experience. Thoughts, musings, advice - all welcome! Tks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AB-Marketing0 -
Angular JS - Page Load
Website build in process in Angular JS. We are looking at prerendering the pages so its all good. However, because there are going to be few server requests, how would the page load be like for search engines? Also, on the client side (browser) would there be any impact if we prerender the pages? Cheers!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Malika10 -
Guidelines for a second website business domain
Hi There, A client is setting up a second website selling the same products from a separate domain with the same descriptions etc. The site will have a separate URL, but will administered from the same CMS. The only difference is the new site has only one brand instead of several on the main site. E.G The main site sells all plumbing brands, the second site just one brand. Your thoughts and advice for best practise would be much appreciated. Andy (Marz Ventures)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MarzVentures0 -
Whats up with this website?
cybercig.co.uk Languishing around 150-200 in the rankings, very barely making it above 70. But also ranks for Refillable Electronic Cigarette on the first page. Any ideas whats happening? Not a huge amount of links but I'd have thought it would've been much higher. I'd love to know opinions 🙂
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jasondexter0 -
My websites position has dropped, any ideas why?
Hi, First off im new here, so hello to everyone. Now to the reason why I have joined. I am currently trying to rank for 2 terms: **UK Bank Holidays 2013 (Term 1) **and Bank Holidays 2013 (Term 2) The page which im trying to rank these terms on is: http://www.followuk.co.uk/bank-holidays Now some background history: On the 29th Dec 2013, term 1 was 5th and term 2 was 7th - rankings achieved through guest blogging. Last night I changed the h1 tag from 'Bank Holidays 2013' to 'UK Bank Holidays 2013'. Re-worded the meta description to try and increase the CTR. And removed the term 'Bank Holiday' from the end of each sub-heading - Ex: 'New Year's Day Bank Holiday' to 'New Year's Day' - I did this because I felt it was to much so in total 'Bank Holiday' term had been removed from 5 sub-headings. Ok, so I went into WMT and resubmitted for indexing, over night the page got reindexed - the term 'UK Bank Holidays 2013' stayed at the same position (5) BUT the 'Bank Holidays 2013' term dropped into hell at roughly position 250. I'm thinking of changing everything back and crossing my fingers that term which dropped comes back BUT maybe im being to rash and it might jump back as the page stands. I did a grade test using SEOMOZ and both terms generate a grade of 'A'. Has anyone got any ideas? Sorry if the thread is a bit messy im currently crying all over the keyboard as im typing. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | followuk0 -
How to find all of a website's SERPs?
Was wondering how easiest to find all of a website's existing SERPs?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
Multiple language websites help in pagerank?
My website is in portuguese. If I make a english version and include it at google.com, it will increase my overall page rank?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Naghirniac0 -
Indirect SEO boost from links
I have 2 ecommerce sites, each with a blog. I am increasing my linkbuilding efforts, but I don't want to build too many links directly to my 2 sites over a short period of time. I have decided that I will add a certain number of links to sites/pages that are already linking to my main sites (for example, a blog post on my blog, guest post on another blog, article submission, etc.). How much of a benefit can I expect in terms of rankings? Has anyone tested this out or experimented with something like this? What are the pros and cons? I appreciate thoughtful comments.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | inhouseseo0