Site Speed is Now a Search Ranking Factor for Google Search

Google has officially made site speed one of the factors for search rank (there are over 200 ranking factors). So now is a good time to read the WordPress site optimization tips post and put some plan of action in place.
Now, you have no reason to go into a panic mode just yet. Optimizing your site for better performance is always a good thing from a usability point of view but Google has indicated that only about 1% of search queries and even fewer search results will be affected from this change at this stage.

There are several research statistics that show that decreasing your site load time on pages leads to an increase in sales which we all want. There are three things to take away from what Google is doing.

• Speeding up your website is a good general practice. Think about how many times you have waited for a site to load. When the site takes too long you usually end up closing the browser and moving on.
• This change will have a small impact on most sites, so don’t panic.
• Small constructive changes can have a direct impact on improving your site and user experience. Instead of wasting time where it is not needed you can focus on some easy, small steps that can improve how users view your site.