Does a Faster Website Improve Your SEO?

Does having a faster running website help you get better rankings in Google?  That’s a question that’s been debated for many years now.  As we all know, there are many factors that are included in the search engine algorithms.  And, while website speed can definitely affect how satisfied your visitor are to your website, does a faster website improve your SEO?

What Did Google Say?

When this question comes up, it reminds me of a time years ago when I interviewed Gary, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google.  Gary is great guy, and this was the second time I got to sit and chat with him about SEO.  Anyway, I wanted to ask him about website speed and its effect on search engine rankings.

I began the question by saying, “These days website speed is a big factor…”.  What I meant was that site speed plays a big role in user satisfaction—that is, no one wants to have to wait for a slow loading site.  But surprisingly to me, Gary abruptly interrupted the question and kind of tersely replied, “We [Google] never said it was a big factor.”  

I was a bit stunned at his reaction for a second, but then I just smiled and asked him if website speed was “a factor” when it came to search engine rankings.  I’d have to go back to the actual interview for his exact quote, but the gist of his answer was that in certain cases, site speed could be a minor factor in the search algorithm.  I’m paraphrasing here and that was a number of years ago, so the question still remains today.

Just as a side note, I’m happy to say that the rest of my interview with Gary went very well and it was good to see that he really wasn’t mad at me.  He just wanted to be very clear on Google’s official position about the search engine.  And, I hope I get the chance in the near future to sit and chat with Gary again.

What Do I Think?

But, now back to our question:  Does a faster website improve your SEO?  The signs and circumstances would certainly suggest so.  After all, Google wouldn’t include their page speed insights together with their Core Web Vitals just for the heck of it, would they?  

For these reasons, together with Gary’s response to my question above, I think we can safely assume that a faster website does help when it comes to SEO.  As for exactly how much or in what situations, that still isn’t crystal clear.  Some people say that if you have a situation where you’re equally weighted with another website, then website speed can be the determining factor on who gets ranked higher.  But again, with the algorithms getting more complex all the time, it’s difficult to say how or when sites are considered equal.  For example, if you’re like me, you’ve had scenarios where your competition outranks you, but their site runs slower than yours.

What I can state is that there are certainly indirect ways a faster running website might affect your SEO.  For example, I do believe that web traffic plays a role in search engine rankings—again to what extent and exactly how is keep secret.  But, I’ve definitely seen tests and actual scenarios where a web page getting more traffic can get a boost in the rankings—and that goes back to your website visitor satisfaction.  If you have a very slow running site, you’re visitors aren’t going to stay very long.  And, you can forget about repeat traffic.

Here’s What to Do About It

Now, given that we believe a faster performing website is better for your SEO, what should you do to speed up your websites?  Here are the three biggest factors I consider vital to speeding up your site.

First, make sure you have quality web hosting.  In my opinion, your web hosting can have the greatest impact on your website speed.  It’s true, that to get premium hosting speed, you may have to spend more on your web host, but this is one expense I feel is totally warranted.

Second, image compression can make a huge difference in your page loading times.  There are some tools that can help you in this area.  For example, if you’re a WordPress user, there are some nice plugins you can use to help you with image compression.  However, the best way to optimize your images is to make sure they are properly sized when you include them.  That is, don’t just load a full, huge image and let your software adjust the size on the fly.  Also, although it isn’t always possible, try to limit the number of images on you page if you’re super concerned about page loading times.

Using a content delivery network (CDN) can help with your static images, but again your best bet is to control the size of your images from the start.

Third, the design of your website can also greatly affect your site speed.  You might be surprised at the difference between an efficiently coded site and poorly constructed website.  Again, going back to WordPress as an example, your choice of website themes can make a significant difference in how well or how fast your site performs.

Well, those are my suggestions.  I’d be very interested to hear about your experiences with website speed and SEO.  So, hit the comment button or drop me an email to let me know what you think!