So, 2010 looks like it may the year that Google starts to push page loading speed as a factor for Ranking in the SERPS.   During 2009, Google released “Page Speed” – a Firefox add-on which helps web designers and website owners optimize their sites for speed.

This was Google planning ahead for the introduction of page loading times as a ranking factor, and sure enough, towards the end of the year – Matt Cutts confirmed that in 2010, page speed may be considered when ranking SERPs.

Site Performance (Webmaster Tools)

Further confirmation of Google’s commitment to page speed came when they announced the new Site Performance monitoring in Webmaster Tools – Labs.    This provides an overview of how your site has performed over the last year – and also how it compares to others (first signs of ranking?)

The graph above is from www.scotiasystems.com which I’ve been experimenting with over the last few months to optimize for speed.   The large spike in October coincides with a problem with our previous hosting company – but this also highlights that such an event could have an impact in your Google ranking!

The downward slopes in November, December and January all coincide with concerted efforts to optimize and reduce loading times across the site.    It’s rewarding to see the changes having an influence in Webmaster Central – and hopefully in the SERPS eventually.   I’m proud to say that Google now reports our site as being faster than 97% of the web!

The Site Performance tool also gives some tips on how to improve aspects of your pages:

(I have discovered one issue with this though - the Google analytics JavaScript is reported as uncompressed, however when viewing a page with a “real” browser it is in fact compressed).

Although useful – there’s a more comprehensive tool available from Google to analyze your site - “Page Speed”.

Page Speed (Firefox/Firebug Add-on)

OK, so now you’ve seen how Google is monitoring and reporting your site speed – what can you do to improve it?   Page Speed by Google is an open source, browser add-on for Firefox/Firebug.   

Specifying a page to analyze, performs 21 different tests covering such things as server settings, page structure, CSS tweaks etc.

You’re then presented with a report (see above) where each test is graded, and if any issues are found, you’re provided with suggestions on how to improve your page.   The suggestions are fairly comprehensive, however the server solutions are often platform dependent so I won’t go into these here.

As you can see from the above report – there’s still some work to do on Scotia Systems to get 100% green ticks.

So there you have it,  two tools from Google,  both provided to the community to improve site loading times.   I see this as Google giving everyone a head start and the tools needed before implementing site speed in the SERPs.     The question is – how long is Google going to wait before they start ranking based on page speed?