To further enhance the rumours that Google are going to introduce
‘Load Time’ as one of their ranking factors in 2010, Google have launched a new labs feature called “Site Performance” in
Google Webmaster Tools (GWT). The “site performance” tool provides statistics from the website that you are webmaster for detailing load speeds. The tool is divided up into 3 sections performance overview, example pages and page speed suggestion, with the results based on the Page Speed application. The application shows how fast your website load times compared to others, and whether it has improved or decreased over time through a graph. GWT also lists specific pages and the amount of time it takes for them to load, and then provides tips and hints on how these pages could be improved.
Google have also provided a Firefox add-on that you can download and install “Page Speed to evaluate the performance of your pages and get suggestions on how to improve” from GWT.
What is Page Speed Google have released an open source Firefox/Firebug add-on called
Page Speed. This add-on is for webmasters and developers to evaluate the performance of their webpage’s and provides suggestions on how they can be improved. Page Speed can be accessed through the
Firebug add-on for Firefox that performs several tests on the websites server and front-end code. The tests that are run on each page provides a set of scores based on
best practices and suggestions aimed at improving the page performance. By using Google’s Page Speed
Firefox add-on the webmaster or developer should be able to: • Improve your website speed • Reduce bandwidth and hosting costs • Keep Internet users engaged • Improve the web. Have you noticed the “Site Performance” tab in your GWT? Have you downloaded Google’s Page Speed add-on and what do you think? Give us your views on these new features and whether this means that Google are definitely going to introduce the Load Time ranking factor.
About Shivam Patel — Shivam Patel is a Senior Account Manager at iThinkMedia. Learn more about
Shivam Patel on LinkedIn or follow him on twitter
@Shivam_Patel.
