There are assorted technical changes that can be made to an organisation’s domain during the primary search optimization review that help to make a page’s search engine positioning more noticeable. This includes changing title and description metatags on each page of a website to highlight keywords that are associated with the page, or the use of heading metatags in page content to similarly highlight the chosen keywords.

To many search engine optimisation commentators, the effect of these technical changes on a page’s natural placement can be overstated. However, something that can be affected by technical changes that can result in an elevated search engine positioning is page loading speed.

Google recently announced that page speed is now a factor used in its algorithm. Admittedly speed is only one of hundreds of elements, but there is already enough anecdotal evidence to support the effect of speed on placement. One enterprise has reported finally overtaking a long-standing rival on a search results listing for their most important keyword after making changes that affected its load times. This note was in response to a blog feature written by a search optimization consultant on page speed importance.

Some elements are more obviously improved than others. The use of large graphics will always slow loading times. Pictures can usually be made smaller, and sometimes the graphics include content that could usefully be coded as text, such as the company’s trading address. There may simply be a large number of individual graphics to load, and these could be consolidated. Some of the other changes may arise from better programming processes, especially where Java or stylesheets are involved. Sometimes programming techniques favour a more theoretical approach to code over performance, and code compression techniques can reduce the number of code elements that have to be loaded. A lot of guidance can be provided by Google’s own webmaster tools, where there are graphs that show load times and the volume of pages loaded, and other tools that make recommendations about the number of components being loaded.

Some search engine optimisation consultancies direct most of the work they do on the creative field of off-page optimisation and may not have the knowledge to make the technical changes that may be required – or it may be consultancy policy to let its client’s own webmasters make those changes. Some organisations may be unwilling to allow outsiders to modify the code of their pages even if the optimisation consultant is capable. In any case, the search optimization consultant should be aware of the changes that could be possible and make the appropriate recommendations that will improve thenatural search engine positioning of those pages.

Improved page loading speed alone will not guarantee improved natural rankings. For the search engine robots, taking less time to load a page results in more pages being indexed, and giving more opportunities for pages on your company’s domain to be found. Improved page loading speed also improves the experience for possible visitors to the website and reduces the chances of that visitors looking elsewhere. search engine optimisation must consider a wide range of components, and page loading speed has become one of them.

Related posts:

1. Too Many Graphics Can Slow Down Your Page Performance – Search Engine Optimization Processes Can Improve It
2. Search Optimization Is A Distance Race Not A Fast Dash
3. On Page Optimization That Gets Results!
4. Gaining A Page One Placement Is Not The End
5. Is Search Engine Optimization Cheaper Than Other Styles Of Paid Promotion?