What You Should Know About Page Speed As A Google Ranking Factor

We all make strenuous efforts to improve page speed in the hopes of benefiting from a ranking boost.

Google is said to prioritize speed when ranking search results, giving faster sites an advantage over slower sites.

So, can the loading time of a page affect its SEO?

If it can, how strong is the signal?

As we investigate the claims about page speed as a Google ranking factor, we’ll answer those questions.

The Claim: Page Speed Is An Important Ranking Factor

Pages that meet a specific speed threshold are said to benefit from a ranking boost in Google’s search results.

The time it takes for a page to load after a user clicks on a link on a search engine results page (SERP) is measured as speed – especially now that Core Web Vitals evaluates loading, interactivity, and visual stability.

Google provides a tool for measuring loading time called PageSpeed Insights, which adds credence to the claims that speed is a ranking factor.

These claims are also based on the fact that Google strives to serve pages that provide a better user experience.

As a result, it’s easy to believe that faster pages have an advantage in search.

It’s more appealing to have a page load immediately after clicking on it – that’s the whole point of AMP.

A SERP full of lightning-fast links may appear to be a satisfying solution, but it may exclude more relevant pages that take longer to load.

This is where the argument that page speed is a ranking factor begins to crumble.

Google has repeatedly stated that relevance is the most important ranking factor.

Fast pages could be served ahead of content that provides a better answer to the user’s query if they were automatically boosted.

This would be a disservice to searchers because it would sacrifice quality for speed.

In short, there are arguments both for and against using page speed as a ranking factor.

The significance of this ostensible signal is hotly debated in the SEO industry.

In the following section, we’ll look at the evidence and clear up some misconceptions.

The Proof That Page Speed Is A Ranking Factor

Google has used speed as a ranking factor since 2010.

An announcement made in April 2010 confirms that Google’s search algorithm will begin taking speed into account when ranking search results:

“Like us, our users place a lot of value in speed – that’s why we’ve decided to take site speed into account in our search rankings.”

This update affected desktop search results, and what appears to be fast on a desktop may appear to be slow on a mobile device.

To be sure, until nearly a decade ago, mobile searchers were still served frustratingly slow pages.

Google made page speed a ranking factor for mobile search results in July 2018.

According to a company announcement:

“Users want to find answers to their questions quickly and data shows that people really care about how quickly their pages load. The Search team announced speed would be a ranking signal for desktop searches in 2010 and as of this month (July 2018), page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile searches too.”

Google still considers page speed when serving search results, though the company confirms that the original signal has been replaced by the page experience signal.

On Twitter, Google’s John Mueller says: