Load Time * becoming a much bigger issue

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/11/13/google-page-speed-may-be-a-ranking-factor-in-2010

*potentially

Thanks for the link.
Frankly I am surprised they don't take speed into account already. Every usability study I have ever seen points to users being very upset with slow sites. Hence they are less likely to be 'what the user is looking for' on many searches.
The abandonment rates are abysmal for slow sites. Every webmaster/marketer/developer/etc. should already be aware of speed issues.

It would be interesting for people to post load times for their sites so we can see where we as experts stand. Any suggestions of what tool to use?

Ahh...you caught that too, eh Josh. Go to Lisa's blog here at -- http://outspokenmedia.com/internet-marketing-conferences/how-to-buy-links-minimum-risk/ -- and read what she listed as his comment and how he was "off base!"

or here to Rusty -- http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/021105.html -- and see that his blogger noted this --
aimClear: Rand advises the following methods to get links
============
...various other comments then this bit --
Webpage load speed. Internet users expect websites to load twice as fast now as in 2006 (to get links rand?
His toung is in his cheek dude
==========

couldn't spell tongue I'd guess but note that BOTH of these folks think Rand's off base. I don't. And I think the rest of us will catch on soon too, eh!



Jim

PS really nice catch...thought I was the only one who noticed that....

thank you for you share .

So now that we know speed could be important, how do we decide what is fast vs ok vs slow? What are considered normal speed times? Anyone have some upload speed parameters we should seek to be around?

Thanks for the info

I found my own answer. This link shows the averages (load time, etc) for a sampling a of sites. Shows 50% of site load in about 7 secs. Run the site test: www.webpagetest.org, then see this link to access your results:
http://www.webpagetest.org/forums/showthread.php?tid=22

Cheers!

7 seconds? That actually seems like a long time.

I would say you should focus on the 90th percentile or higher when setting your goals. Any numbers on that?

further to this speed isssue - go to -- http://code.google.com/speed/ -- as it's G's online sandbox to try speed issues etc etc....

and yup, I too think it's coming...thank GOD we also web dev too, eh!



Jim

7 Seconds is way too long (assuming a high speed connection). People make a judgment about a site in a fraction of a second (IIRC Alertbox has an article detailing the specifics). By 7 seconds I am sure you would see a significant increase in bounce rate over say 4 seconds.
The last thing you want to do is be in the middle of the pack IMO. You want to be one of the best of the best.
Of course this assumes a fast connection on the loading side but far more people are running high speed connections than just a few years ago.
My sites top two landing pages come in under 3 sec. on that test using the FIOS setting. And under 5 with DSL and I am still concerned about load time issues. Load time makes a tremendous difference on an e-retail site, especially for the landing page but any other slow page will kill you as well.

The forum link shows that 30% of sites tested with that tool at the DSL setting have a load time of 5 seconds or less. 90th percentile would be about 3.5 sec.
Of course it will be even shorter for true high speed internet connections. And this only takes into account people who used that tool online. High N but very self selecting.
If I have a chance later I will try to find the Alertbox data.

My bad, I started a new thread but didn't notice this one, I'll just copy and paste what I had there which is pretty much what's been mentioned here.

You never noticed site speed unless it's bad. Generally we pay attention to site speed as an element of overall user experience. Too slow is unprofessional and when benchmarked to our competitors if you're slow then you lose business.

The importance of site speed is taking on a new dimension with the unrolling new Google algo Caffeine.

Again, SITE SPEED will be factor to your rankings.

This means webmasters need to know how their web sites work against competitors, just another element to pay attention to.

View this post and video from WebPro News for more information.

There are tools to help, firstly, a new page speed resource page from Google gives you a list of articles and tools to pay attention to. Also, a Firefox plugin will analyze a number of factors regarding page load time. It's called Page Speed

That leaves us with what we've known all along: create error free and efficient web code that will maximize user experience on our web sites.

No. Site speed MAY be a factor at some future date.
Personally I am predicting that at some point it will be. I have no idea how important it will be, wither it will matter only after a certain point or not, etc.
But to repeat Google has NOT announced that this IS happening or definitely WILL happen (Unless I missed something). Matt C. is saying the same thing he has been for 6months or a year. Google thinks the web should be fast.

In my opinion if you don't already know how your site speed compares to your competition and the web overall as well as generally what users think of it you are terrible 'webmaster'.

ETA: Not meant as a dig against DJ just an observation that it seems to me the importance of speed being a surprise to the community confuses me.

I don't think anyone that's posted is seeing this as a surprise. If you look up the thread that DJ posted (if it hasn't been deleted yet) I believe the title says something along the lines of "confirming what we've known all along".

I'm surprised that people are surprised. I'm certain it's been a factor since day 1. Top 5 in Google usually come up faster than page 3 sites.

I'm glad it's been brought to people's attention though. There are a lot of CMS sites that take way too long to download. I think this is a major problem for some CMS.