Web Wise: Google Says Speed Counts Too

Google recently announced a loading speed will influence search results ranking for a website. Google's internal research shows less engagement by Google visitors when the search engine purposely slowed down its response times less than half a second, in 100 millisecond increments.

Google says it will be measuring page speed in two ways:

1. How a page responds to Google's Web bots. A Web bot, also known as a spider, is a program or automated script that browses the Internet in a methodical, automated manner.

2. Load time measured by the Google Toolbar.

There are a number of good tools to test the speed of your site, but be prepared: Many of these sites are geared toward the technically fluent. If you are working on your site alone, it might be better to check out a couple of these sites that offer free tools to assess your site's speed.

In addition to its site-testing tool, Google's Website Optimizer site offers lots of tutorials, a video product tour and other information.

WebPageTest.org provides a basic, quick assessment. Just enter a page's URL, and results are displayed graphically for you.

The free analyzer tool at WebsiteOptimization.com offers advice on improving page load time after it reviews the submitted URL.

These tools are great, but you're probably wondering what you can do now to ensure your pages load as quickly as possible. There are so many things to consider, but here's a great place to start:

1. Keep your pages short. Web pages that scroll on and on slow down your site and are just plain unfriendly to visitors looking for information. If all that content is crucial, consider splitting it up into multiple pages.

2. Reduce the number of sidebar "widgets." If your website is built on a content management system platform, determine how many you really need.

3. Ensure your images are optimized for Web use. If your site is graphics heavy, this can be a huge factor in how fast your site loads.

And remember, content relevance is still the biggest factor in weighting your rank in search engine results. Keep working on keeping your site's content relevant and fresh!

ASA Web Ways: President's Blog Gets Facelift

ASA's President's Blog has been providing commentary and analysis about the automotive service industry since 2006, and now, it sports a totally fresh look. The recently relaunched ASA President's Blog allows visitors to quickly post comments, share ideas and interact with others in an online environment. Stop by http://blog.asashop.org and join the conversation!