Site Speed Tips for When Google Uses That as a Ranking Factor

Last year, Google's Matt Cutts dropped the bomb (to put it in the exaggerated tone that many took the news in), that Google was considering taking site speed into consideration as one of many potential ranking factors for search results.

Is your site's performance up to snuff? Comment here.

This of course freaked a lot of people out, but as Matt and Google as a whole has maintained, this would not trump relevance. It would be taken more into consideration when there are two sites of relatively equal relevance, but one site loads faster and delivers a better user experience. Matt reiterated this point in an interview we did with him this week at SMX.

WebProNews also chatted with Maile Ohye, Senior Developer Programs Engineer for Google at SMX, about website performance (speed), how that pertains to search rankings and the user experience, and some tips for making sure your site is up to speed, so to speak.

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As far as site speed as a ranking factor, Ohye pretty much makes the same point as Cutts, and it's probably not going to be something where all of a sudden all of the faster sites are ranking better and the slower ones are doing worse. But it does enhance the user experience, and she refers to a study that found that an optimized site actually increased conversions by 16%. So if you're not optimizing your site's performance for Google, maybe that's a good enough reason on its own.

Watch the video to get some specific advice regarding some simple adjustments you can make to your site that can make a big difference.

If you're one of those freaking out about getting your site performance optimized, you may feel better after hearing what she has to say, and realize that it might not be as big a deal as you thought.

By the way, Cutts also mentioned that the speed thing is completly independent of Caffeine.

Do you think site performance is a manageable attribute of your search engine marketing strategy? Discuss here.

YouTube Streams Tiger Woods Press Conference Live

Most people I know are pretty tired of hearing about Tiger Woods, but the world is still apparently eager to hear what he has to say at his press conference today. Currently, "what time is tiger woods press conference" is listed on Google Trends, and "Tiger Woods" is a trending topic on Twitter.

Clearly a lot of people still care. If you fall into this category, you may be interested to know that YouTube will be streaming his press conference today live at 8am PT at YouTube.com/citizentube."We're experimenting with a live-streamed press conference on YouTube," YouTube's Chris Dale tells WebProNews. "Anyone in the world can watch the Tiger Woods press conference."



Regardless of whether or not you will be tuning into the Tiger Woods press conference, the larger picture is that YouTube has simply become a legitimate news source (they do supply non-celebrity news as well). It has grown a lot since its launch. It used to be considered a great place to upload silly cat videos, and while it still is, it is also now a place to get breaking news as it happens.

This is not the first time YouTube has offered live streaming of a press conference. For example, back in April, they offered an Obama press conference on his first 100 days in office.

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the web, so a lot of people are bound to be watching Tiger's words there. The more events YouTube streams live, the more people are likely to consider it as a go-to news source.

It is worth mentioning that a variety of other sites will be providing coverage as well, but considering the size of YouTube's user-base, I'd say it has an advantage.

YouTube Safety Mode Goes Beyond Human Review

This week, YouTube launched Safety Mode, an opt-in setting that helps users screen out potentially objectionable videos. We asked YouTube how it works. For example, is there human intervention involved?

"Safety Mode goes above and beyond the flagging system and manual review to use community signals to filter out content that may be objectionable," YouTube tells WebProNews. "YouTube's filters use proprietary technology and algorithms to identify and filter potentially objectionable content."

That's about as in-depth as they were willing to get on that, but YouTube has acknowledged that it's not 100% perfect, calling it just another step in their ongoing desire to give users more control over what they see on the site.

Don't expect YouTube to start accepting more "objectionable" content now that it has Safety Mode available. All content still has to comply with YouTube's community guidelines.

To use Safety Mode, simply click on the link at the bottom of any video page. The setting can be locked on that browser with your YouTube password.

Google to Enhance Broadband for Some Communities

Google announced today that is planning to build and test "ultra high-speed" broadband networks in a small number of trial locations around the U.S. This means Google will deliver Internet speeds of 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to now, according to the company.

Google says it has the following things in mind:

• Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it's creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can't yet imagine.
• New deployment techniques: We'll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we'll share key lessons learned with the world.
• Openness and choice: We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.

"Like our WiFi network in Mountain View, the purpose of this project is to experiment and learn," says the company says. "Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there's still more to be done. We don't think we have all the answers – but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better Internet for everyone."

Google is putting out a request for information to help identify communities that are interested. They're taking responses until March 26. Then they'll announce the chosen communities. We're awaiting response from Google on the criteria for how communities will be chosen.
 

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