The use of site loading speed as one of the ranking factors was announced by Google several years ago. The reason is the corporation’s desire to provide users with the necessary, high-quality information as quickly as possible. But the importance of loading speed is not fully understood. In reality, it directly and indirectly affects the position of the resource in search results.

Direct influence

В одной из посвященных скорости статей специалисты из Google отметили, что данный алгоритм воздействует на поисковую выдачу в определенных условиях:

  • all else being equal. Speed is taken into account if the other ranking indicators of the compared sites are at the same level. That is, a slow resource with high-quality content and good behavioral factors will be higher in search results than a fast but uninformative one;

  • search via Google.com in English. It is difficult to verify the relevance of this information. Most likely, after the publication of this source, the influence of the algorithm expanded to other search options;

  • included in the sample. Speed when ranking is taken into account for several percent of sites on the Internet. Their number is highly likely to increase, since search robots can easily measure this metric (loading speed).

Search from mobile devices

Google is focused on mobile users. For technical reasons (limitations of the mobile Internet), they pay increased attention to loading speed when searching from smartphones and tablets. The time it takes for a page to fully load is more important for mobile search than for desktop. Therefore, resource speed has a significant impact on Google search results for smartphones and tablets. This parameter is part of the requirements for obtaining the “mobile friendly” mark.

Internet on desktop devices is faster. It is more convenient to use, so when creating a list of relevant links in the search results, speed is taken into account less.

Indirect influence

It's important to understand why Google places a premium on loading speed. Many users, especially on mobile devices, do not want to wait a long time for a site to load. It’s easier for them to close the page and follow another link. This is important not only for the search engine. The result of this behavior for the site owner will be an increase in the number of failures. Rankings are getting worse.

A site that loads quickly is more likely to be scrutinized. Minimal waiting between page loads can have a positive impact on search depth. The user will spend more time on the resource. As a result, behavioral factors and his positions will improve.

Such achievements are possible if the site is filled with quality content, has good usability and helps solve user questions. Based on this, increasing loading speed should be given attention when other promotion methods are maximally implemented.

How to increase site speed

Reasons for slow resource performance:

  • bad choice of hosting. Loading a page requires high speed of sending data from the server and receiving requests. Ideally, it should be limited to the capabilities of the user's Internet. Choosing a hosting taking into account traffic, the area of residence of the main number of users and resources will help achieve optimal loading speed;

  • low-quality (junk) code. This is typical for cheap sites. They are developed using standard elements that contain a lot of unnecessary code for the sake of universality. The use of a large number of libraries, loading from many files, ill-considered writing and disorderly placement of scripts has a negative impact on loading speed;

  • poor optimization. High-resolution images for mobile versions of sites, heavy backgrounds and elements that do not carry a semantic load slow down resources without giving anything in return;

  • high traffic on sites with CMS. Under heavy loads, the performance of PHP engines deteriorates. Caching will help solve this problem.

Increasing download speed can require significant time and financial investment. Implementation of this task It is advisable in extreme cases. It’s better to create fast websites right away.