Your webpage download speed will now most likely effect your rankings in google search engine results pages. Google’s new algorithm has shown to penalize webpages with slow download speed. Slow is simply a measure of poor quality.
As usability practitioners, we have been ranting about webpage download time for years. Speed issues are one of the top complaints of website users, resulting in billions in lost sales and increased online customer dissatisfaction. Nonetheless, many of our clients have ignored advice to slim up their webpages in exchange for fancier, more graphically rich interfaces. Now, google is going to force their hands.
So, how slow is slow? Well, usability research has shown an 8 second webpage download time on a dial-up modem is a good benchmark.
You may test your homepage:
- www.urivalet.com or
- Web Page Analyzer – Free web page analysis tool calculates page size, composition, and download time. Gives speed recommendations based on best practices for usability, HCI, and website optimization.
So, perhaps now is the time to consider your webpage download speed as a critical quality attribute. But, only if you want to be found in google searches!
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Webpagetest.org is another website speed diagnostic tool. Yslow is a great Firefox plugin to help you identify what page elements are slowing your page down. Aptimize is the software to use if want to automate web performance.
Lomu, thanks for the advice!
- Scott
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