Does Server Speed Effect SEO Rankings?
-
I was told by a website developer that Google ranks sites higher if they are hosted on faster servers. Is this true? For example my site is currently limited because it is a Quick Shopping Cart site hosted by Godaddy. He said that if I hosted my research chemical site with a different company with faster servers I could get better ranking immediately. I linked to my site. I think it loads ok. However Godaddy probably isn't the fastest service around.
-
Godaddy is touting their new 4gh servers and also a premium dns that guarantees 99.9 percent up time. Have you tested these?
-
Thanks for that site link... It says I have a B for page load speed but a D for Yslow grade? I am not sure what the difference between Yslow and page load are?
-
is this thread spam?
-
slow websites are rubbish.. even if it's not a ranking factor its pretty boring waiting for stuff to load!
without moving server you can still improve the code to make it faster:
http://gtmetrix.com/reports/www.buy-research-chemicals.com/sOqqeQx0
-
Thank you for the smushit site... I am using it right now...
-
Hi Chronicle,
You might also investigate other ways to speed up your site, such as making sure your images are optimized. Your home page images are all identical, and the file size could easily be cut in half with http://www.smushit.com/ysmush.it/.
Honestly, I would worry less about your server at this point, and more about other things that might send off some spammy signals to Google. The text of your website claims that it is just for research purposes, but the links coming to the site that show in Open Site Explorer have a lot of "buy viagra" anchor text coming from .edu pages that have been heavily spammed. The image that's often repeated on the home page has the filename of buy-sildenafil-citrate_00.jpg. The alt text for the free shipping image is "buy research chemicals", etc.
-
I think the key with having a quick running site is more a usability one, if the site runs slow especially e-commerce users will bounce to other websites and competitors.
Site speed has been noted as a small factor to ranking yet their are 100s of ranking factors.
Godaddy servers are not the best at all from my experience, I have tested a few servers their a while ago, depends on what type of server you are after too - dedicated server, shared host ect.
Also up time of the server is another important factor, geo location of the sever i.e is it close to your main user base is also important with e-commerce.
-
Hi Chronicle,
I would say your first statement is false to some extent. Although website and hosting speeds play a role in ranking as stated in a blog post by Google, it is very minor... less then 1%, so I highly doubt that moving to a "faster" server will yield "higher rankings immediately".
As long as your code is written correctly, images are optimized for web and you maybe even have compression on the server side for your site, you should be in pretty good condition.
Hope this helps!
Here is another Google Post on this topic.
-
See this article:
http://searchengineland.com/google-now-counts-site-speed-as-ranking-factor-39708
Key takeaway: speed is a ranking factor, but it's a very, very minor one. Definitely does not carry enough weight to justify moving servers.
Hope this helps!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
SEO Agency with experience in the loyalty rewards marketing space?
Looking specifically for an SEO agency that has experience doing SEO work for businesses in the loyalty/rewards market space. Brands that occupy this space could include Swagbucks, eBates, PCH (Publisher's Clearing House.) I've looked at the sample clients page of MANY agencies, but I never see any of these types of businesses being featured. Thank you so much for your help!
SEO Learn Center | | sgarrels0 -
Backlink From Different Language Sites Will Spoil My Ranking?
Hi there! Excited to joining this community. The main question is that if I get backlinks from different language sites then that backlink will be worthy or non-worthy in the eye of search engine? I know if I target international market by presenting my content in different languages then of course it will be worthwhile for me. But what will be happened if I do not represent content in different languages on my site but get the backlines from other language sites such as: Chinese, Russian or any other? Also I have seen many sites which are getting backlinks from different language sites and they are just getting high authority. Is there any expert?
SEO Learn Center | | mianarfan3331 -
What are the most effective SEO methods for online communities and forums?
My company has a global online community of over 350,000+ members. We allow users to submit articles revolving around the scrum and agile framework. Sometimes the submissions become overwhelming and I am curious if there is anyone out there who may have experience with this same scenario. I don't want to place meta data on every single article that comes in, because I don't have the resources nor time to optimize each and every article. Does anyone have techniques or suggestions in regards to either leaving the meta data untouched or customizing each individual piece? Any thoughts or ideas will be extremely helpful. Thanks
SEO Learn Center | | ScrumAlliance0 -
What is the Best SEO Book to buy
I want to learn advanced SEO. Please let me know which book to buy to learn SEO for On page and link Building. Which book to buy to learn Social media ( facebook, twitter, Google+ etc) Thank You
SEO Learn Center | | ross254sidney0 -
How much dev knowledge as an seo do I need to know in order to make small changes on websites?
Hi mozzers I am considering learning some dev just to be able to make minor changes on websites. I love seo but will never want to be a programmer. I get sometimes frustrated that I have to request my dev colleague to make minor changes such as adding a small piece of codes to a website for verification purposes or adding rich snippet or modifying the ga code to get more out of it. I know some HTML and understands the core elements and attributes. My first question would be: what should I learn without learning A-Z of programming? My guess would be some php and? My second question: based on your answer where can I learn about these programs? Any interactive learning services such as team treehouse ? Any online courses? Thanks!
SEO Learn Center | | Ideas-Money-Art1 -
Doing SEO when using location is not an option
When doing SEO for a company that does not have a specific location (they are an online-only retailer), and doesn't want their manufacturing location given, what is some advice on other great SEO tactics that will help counter the disadvantages of not using anything location-related (Google Places, directory submissions, etc). Obviously backlinking and on-page optimization, but in regards to the fact that Google is becoming more and more encouraging of sites that are location-optimized and listed in many records such as Places, Yelp, directories, etc., does anyone have any advice?
SEO Learn Center | | questfore0 -
What are the things I should tell my website developer to keep in mind for on-page SEO wise while outsourcing it?
I have done the keyword research for my target and will do the copy writing in-house suited for both visitors and bots.Like suitable headers and mention of keyword in the content,mention of keyword in link,having video in the page if possible etc. I need some help for a proper interlinking strategy and main question is, what are the things to be taken care of in coding/development SEO wise,which should be told to developer. I am going for custom development in .NET platform( if it matters anyway ) My site will have 3 products/services page and rest are resources and Q&A community. I am targeting the keywords for 3 products. Q&A community and resources should help me in long tail keywords. Any kind of advice,suggestion is welcome. Thanks
SEO Learn Center | | RyanSat0 -
Sale-a-day websites massive unused seo power, where's their marketing?
How do these companies market themselves so well? Is it 90% social media? www.gilt.com http://www.hautelook.com/ http://www.ozsale.com.au/ I'm curious to how they initially got off the ground and it seems like I need to be exploring these marketing techniques as well.
SEO Learn Center | | seoninja200