Google has spent years making user signaling a factor in search rankings. Every update to the search engine algorithm, starting with the use of links (bibliometrics) as a signal in the first version of Google, has made human behavior a ranking factor. Now speed and engagement with search results are becoming almost as important as inbound links.
In recent years, website speed has started to act like a kill switch, especially on mobile devices. If you have slow loading speeds or find it difficult to crawl on mobile for other reasons, no amount of links will overcome this. That’s why SEO experts are now pushing for speed just as much as UX teams.
However, many companies still sell tools to solve marketing and conversion “problems” that negatively impact speed, user experience, and therefore SEO. It might seem like a good idea to embed your Instagram feed and a live chat app in the footer of your business’s website, but doing so can quickly add seconds to your page load time on mobile devices over 4G. This loss of speed can only get worse if a company is unresponsive to their live chat.
“Shot with a Kodak Ektra smart phone” by Thomas Leuthard is marked CC BY 2.0.
A small town girl living in a robot world. But these robots only exist online and look nothing like Gabriel Luna. I cover topics related to AI and cybersecurity, topics that are increasingly converging.
