Have you ever considered how the loading time of your web pages might impact on your search engine rankings?

Both Google and Yahoo! have commented on this issue recently, so it might be a good time to take a closer look at how long it takes your web pages to load.

Google’s position on the issue has always been that the time taken for a web page to load does not have any impact in their ranking algorithm – until now! As part of their initiative to “Speed Up The Web“, Google have stated that page load times might possibly become a consideration in the future.

Google’s Matt Cutts has stated that, “We want the web to be faster and we want sites to load more quickly”, so it’s very possible that, in the future, Google could consider rewarding fast loading websites, via improved search engine results.

Take a look at what Matt Cutts has to say about the topic below:

Another interesting development has come from Yahoo!, who recently filed a patent with regards to web page loading times.

Their Patent Abstract summary states the following:

“Methods and systems are provided that may be used to characterise in some manner the performance that a user may experience when accessing a web document.”

The patent application goes on to discuss establishing some kind of “user experience information” which could be used to rank search results. Obviously web page load time will play a big part in the user experience, so this would be a contributing factor.

The patent application states:

“For example, information relating to whether a user might abandon or wait for a web document to be displayed may be useful when establishing certain quality or relevance factors for the web document.”

As both Google and Yahoo! appear to be placing increased relevance on the issue of page load times, it might be a smart move to ensure that your website has been optimised to load as quickly as possible, ahead of any potential changes to the search engine algorithms. Your Web Site Designer should be able to help you with this.

Apart from helping to make your site more search engine friendly, any improvements in speed will definitely help to improve your sites appeal to your visitors as well as improving your Web Page Optimisation efforts.

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As promised here is the second Google video from their webmaster educational series - “Speeding up in a Slowdown”.

In this video you will hear tips from Ricardo Prada, a user experience researcher at Google, about designing websites for the user.

One of the things Ricardo and his colleagues are responsible for, is making sure that Google websites are efficient and fun to use so that visitors keep coming back to them. Ricardo offers three valuable tips that he and his team think about daily, as they do their jobs. Ultimately, these tips reflect Google’s guiding principle: “if you focus on the user, everything else will follow”.

Tip #1: Design for the tasks that visitors complete on your site.

Think about tasks on your website first and layouts second. It’s tempting to want a flashy design that exercises your CSS skills, but remember that vistors come to your site with specific goals in mind, like reading your essays, or checking out your collection of sports photos. Write down the top three tasks your users might want to accomplish on your site, and design to make those tasks quick and efficient.

Tip #2: Use ads as potential exit paths, not interruptions.

Ads should complement your site, not distract from it. The most natural place for a user to evaluate an advertisement is after they’ve completed their goals on your site. Instead of interrupting your user’s main tasks, try to offer ads as potential exit path for users who were probably ready to leave anyway by placing them at the end of completed tasks.

Tip #3: SEO - only if it makes sense.

Only do search engine optimisation that benefit your users. For example, page titles that are relevant to the page content make it easier for your visitors to understand what your articles are about. On the other hand, there are lots of sneaky strategies out there for improving search engine rank. Most of those don’t work anymore, and they might actually harm your site’s reputation.

For further information check out the Google Webmaster Tools - Design and Content Tips or visit the Custom Web Site Design page on our main website.

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It is important to check that your website is compatible with all major web browsers. My preferred browser is Firefox. Obviously I review hundreds of different websites each week and it is not unusual to view web pages that appear to have missing text or images, over lapping text or specific functionality that simply does not work.

Inevitably the reason for this is because the site is not compatible with Firefox and the webmaster has not bothered to check if their website is compatible with the many different browsers that exist. Some web design companies are also guilty of not checking that a new site will function properly in all of the major browsers.

Because Inernet Explorer is deemed to be the major player in terms of market share, there is a tendency to forget that there are thousands of internet users, using alternative browser platforms. If your website does not perform properly when viewed through all of the major browsers then you are potentially losing out on a significant slice of business.

It is therefore vitally important to ensure that your site will function properly and look its best, no matter what browser your visitors are using.

The major web browsers and their market share as of December 2008, is as follows:

• Internet Explorer - 68.15%*
• Firefox - 21.34%*
• Safari - 7.93%*
• Chrome - 1.04%*
• Opera - 0.71%*

* Source - NetApplications.com

As you can see, if your website only functions properly with Internet Explorer, there is potentially a whopping 30% of visitors that are unable to view your site correctly.

You will need to download the latest version of each browser and install on your computer, in order to check that your site can be viewed correctly and is functioning properly. If you identify a problem with your site you should report this to your web designer/developer who should be able to fix the problem. Most compatability issued are easily resolved, once they have been identified.

If you require further information on any Web Site Design issue, please Contact Us