Speed has always been a key part of the way that Chrome differentiates itself from other search engines. Yesterday’s (11th November 2019) announcement makes this even more important. With Google announcing that they will be looking to reward fast loading websites in a way that has not been done before. By displaying a badge on slow loading websites, Chrome plans on clearly indicating slow loading sites to searchers.
Having announced two potential methods of badging sites (one for fast loading and on for low loading pages), Chrome has not yet decided on which form this badging will take. They have however stated that they will be testing various forms.
What can you do?
While Chrome will continue to provide updates over the coming months regarding this you can take steps to pre-empt the changes and reduce your risk of being hit by any potential penalties. Using PageSpeed Insights will allow you to identify how long it takes your page to load as well as providing some insights as to how to improve load times. Lighthouse provides personalised advice and best practice on improving your website performance.
Read the original Chrome announcement here: https://blog.chromium.org/2019/11/moving-towards-faster-web.html
If you want to find out more about how I can solve your website speed problems and other SEO challenges you might be facing get in touch today, or you can find out more about my SEO services here and how SEO works.
