Think it’s okay to run a sluggish site? Think again. In a recent interview, Google’s Matt Cutts says page speed may become a factor in Google search rankings come 2010.
“Historically, we haven’t had to use it in our search rankings, but a lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast,” says Cutts. “It should be a good experience, and so it’s sort of fair to say that if you’re a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus. If you really have an awfully slow site, then maybe users don’t want that as much.”
It’s about time, really. Between the constant improvement of content management systems and the falling prices of content delivery networks, I’m sick of n00b webmasters forcing me to endure half-minute pageloads. If Google search results can give me the information I need in less time, then I’m all for site speed factoring into rankings.
Originally posted on November 14, 2009 @ 3:29 am