Faster Website = Higher Search Ranking

Web Page Loading Speeds
Can you think of a time when you went to a website and it seemed like it wasn't going to load, but you waited and it finally did?

Even 5 to 10 seconds for most people seems like forever compared to typical web pages that load instantly. We sure take lightning speed for granted, don't we?

I generally abandon a site if it takes more than about 5 seconds to load because I assume it's either poorly designed, and/or utilizing unecessary plugins, and/or redirecting to another site improperly, and/or it is infected with malware.

It isn't because 5 seconds is a long time, it's because I have no idea if it has crashed or if it will end up being 60 seconds, by which time I could have already found what I wanted on another site. And it's also because I know how dangerous it is to be on an infected website for even a few seconds.

(Here's a video explaining what is called drive-by malware.)

We Build Fast Websites
It makes sense then that one of the 200+ criteria that Google uses to evaluate website quality is the time it takes for pages to load. As mentioned above, whether it's because of sloppy design or something else, a slow loading page is a poor experience for internet users. So for two websites with the same overall credibility and value, Google will give the edge in search results to the faster one because it will be a better experience for the end user.

Google added site speed to their list of ranking criteria back in 2010. Here's the official site speed announcement.

Because of this, Second Glance Digital Media takes extra steps to increase the speed of every website we build for every client. By optimizing server settings, site architecture, and individual page design, it's just one of the many things we do to stay on top, in order to keep our clients and their businesses on top!