Speed, or lack of it, is going to become an issue again. How fast your page loads is already a factor in Google AdWords quality score but speed’s going to be added to the organic ranking algorithm. Now’s the time to check your loading speed.
Let’s say you’re selling construction sealants for instance. It might seem a good idea to show your visitors immediately the amazing range of epoxy sealants you sell but listing everything – from fixing sanitary ware to anti-vandal sealants -on the home page isn’t terribly clever and now it’s going to annoy Google too [Remember, relevant content is king].
Ten years ago speed was important because unless a site loaded quickly valuable business might be lost. We’ve all become complacent about page loading times now that broadband is almost universal but Google is putting it firmly back into the spotlight.
There’s a very important point to remember about loading. It will probably be instant when you view your new web site on your graphic designer’s laptop –that’s because the files are already on the machine. Your site might load quickly using your business broadband connection, but how fast is it through a domestic connection or a mobile broadband connection on a construction site? Do you have unnecessary graphics loading and performing spectacular technicolour stunts? Now might be the time to review the wisdom of having such grand entrances to your web content.
Extra pages cost very little online (your CMS should have instant power of creation) and, apart from anything else, a well-structured site where content is broken down is easier to navigate than long pages that demand scrolling. For instance construction sealants can be delivered in separate categories: waterproof, joint bonding, building and expansion. A click on joint bonding takes the viewer to more specific further categories of joints to be sealed: construction, expansion, construction connection and isolation joints. In just three clicks the viewer can be reading specific details of your product. Categorisation is convenient, reduces thinking time for your pospects and delivers relevant product.
Is your web site content constructed from small manageable portions that will please your visitors and also please Google? If it does it will help your site ranking and probably your conversions too.
Something which can help speed up webpage load times is Google’s new Asynchronous coding. This is a piece of javascript code which sits *higher* up the webpage coding template rather than the traditional form of ga.js which sits at the bottom and thus can cause a slight delay while things render and the stats are sent to your Analytics software. The new Asynchronous code acts like a ‘fast lane’ whilst the rest of your webpage renders and loads up without having to spend additional time loading the analytics coding etc. Some websites use more than one analytics software package (i.e. Omniture, Yahoo etc) and imagine the loading time for each page as it collects stats for each software package? Google has created its own ‘fast lane’ using Asynchronous coding. Check it out!