When Google Caffeine was released, we rediscovered the importance of page load time …among other things. And maybe it’s not as important as content relevance, but Matt Cutts did say, “…Relevancy is the most important [ranking factor]. If you have two sites that are equally relevant… you’d probably prefer the one that’s a little bit faster, so page speed can be an interesting theory to try out for a factor in scoring different websites. But absolutely, relevance is the primary component… That’s not going to change.”

Okay, that much we could probably have figured out on our own, content trumps page speed… great.

While Matt Cutts didn’t elaborate on how important page load speed was compared to the more than 200 other page ranking factors, last month we may have seen a hint at its importance when a new feature was introduced on Google Analytics allowing you to track page load speed right within your account. So obviously it’s important enough to extend tracking support.

Although page load speed is not automatically included, it is pretty easy to install. Just add _gaq.push(['_trackPageLoadTime']); to your Google Analytics script

LIKE THIS…

<script type=”text/javascript”>

  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-123456-1']);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageLoadTime']);

  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’;
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();

</script> 

While we may not know just how important page speed is, we do know that it’s important not just to ranking well in the search engines, but also for an improved user experience. Start comparing bounce rates and average time on pages and conversion rates between two pages of greatly varying load times, what are you seeing… if the content is not worth the wait, your visitors will likely leave.

So get cracking! Start crunching and tracking your page speed and let me know what you see for results!

As a searcher it means that the results you receive from Google should be delivered quicker, and they should be more relevant to your search query. Very good things.

As a website owner, it means that your website updates should be seen by Google much faster than before, so your new products and services have the ability to show up on results pages much sooner. Hooray! But this also means that your competitors have that same ability as well. Ouch. And Google will be looking at more web pages than ever before, possibly increasing the competition. Double Ouch!

What should you do? Successful website owners and managers should continue to do what they have always done. Build a website with great content. Make it search engine friendly from development through design through content. Make it user friendly. Optimize it. These basics haven’t really changed. It’s the pace at which you may have to do some of these things that will change.

One element to keep in mind is page load speed. This has been a factor in search engine rankings in the past – it’s just that now the bar has been set a bit higher. The faster you can get your page to load the more highly Google will think of it (and your site visitors will be appreciative as well). Minimizing image size, removing unused elements from the code, combine external files (CSS and JavaScript) and streamlining code are just a few ways to decrease page load speed.

One piece of advice, at least for a while, would be to check your site analytics more frequently than you normally do, and check your rankings (manually of course) more often as well. The truth is that even though we have an idea of what Google Caffeine means to us, no one can really predict what exactly will happen to any particular website. If you stay on top of how your website and traffic changes with the update, you’ll be well ahead of the game.

So have you noticed any major changes to your website’s rankings or traffic over the past week? I know I’ve seen a handful of jumps, but considering we work with hundreds of sites and thousands of phrases, that doesn’t sound like too many. How about you?

Those corporate site bigwigs were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of dollar signs added up in their heads.
But MaAndPa.com worried, that when Caffeine soon unwrapped,
They’d be in for something colder than a long winter’s nap.

When away from the PC, the screen did refresh,
Pa sprang from the couch to see what was left.
A look to the screen and nothing new yet,
Time to open more tabs and surf on the net.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of midday to objects below.
When, what to pa’s wondering eyes should appear,
But a post from Matt Cutts, Oh dear, Oh dear.

With a little hesitation he decided to click play,
The moment had arrived to hear what he had to say.
Without hesitation, he got to the point,
Without further delay it was time to anoint.

“Now faster! Now better! More user friendly for all!
On my PC! On your Mac! They’ll be no slow crawl!
To the top of the rankings go the relevant and fast!
Now search away! Search away! Nonsense is a thing of the past!”

As fast as pa could he got ma from her tea,
They’re going together to face off with Caffeine.
So over to the PC they once again went,
With knots in their stomach, and most of their energy spent.

And then, without warning, IE just shut down,
They looked at each other and said not a sound.
Double click on the Mozilla icon, it had to be done,
For them to see tonight if they’re still #1.

It went to their home page, their business of course,
Of which they were the only labor force.
They got here quickly, as many others before,
But with Caffeine now live, would it ever happen any more?

Google.com went into the address bar,
As they made one final wish on a bright, twinkling star.
Into the search box was typed their major keyword,
Wishing that good things was what they were headed towards.

Pa clicked on ‘Search’ as he had done many times in the past,
They hoped that their site, would be looked on as one of the fast
What will happen right now, we’re not quite sure,
But come back in a few months and we’ll know a lot more.