Website Speed and Search Rankings Study, Faster Server Case Studies, Form Conversion Rate Optimization - Optimization Week of Feb. 25, 2015
Optimization Week Issue #133, Feb. 25, 2015
In this issue we've got something for everybody, plus a story
that definitively links website speed with SEO. First up a new
study on speed and SEO rankings found that Google has indeed
been telling us the truth. A team of Polish researchers have
confirmed that crawl time and its variability influence search
engine rankings. Page load time had a weak and insignificant
correlation with search rankings. This means that webmasters
can help their search rankings by ensuring that their HTML and
CSS are minimal, well-integrated, and delivered from a
consistently fast server.
Along those lines we've got some case studies on the beneficial
effects of upgrading to faster servers, and two articles showing
the effects on actual sites converted to responsive designs.
Next we show how to optimize your contact forms by minimizing the
number of fields and steps/pages taken to complete them. Finally
we review the oft-maligned Healthcare.gov server one year after
its inauguration.
- Empirical Study of Web Site Speed on Search Engine Rankings
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This article summarizes the results of a study on load time
factors in Google search engine rankings. The empirical study
found that website crawl time and its variability strongly
correlates with search engine position.
- Case Study: Responsive Design of PhillyDentistry.com Results
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A new responsive design improved key metrics for both desktop and
mobile visitors. Engagement metrics improved and lead generation
increased by nearly 15%.
- Case Study: PhillyDensitry.com Responsive Redesign
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Upgrading to a responsive design has many benefits, including
speed. A new design for PhillyDentistry.com tested about twice
as fast.
- Healthcare.gov One Year Performance Review
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After one year of improvements, how fast is the healthcare.gov
website? While the site is more available, response times have
slowed down by 62% to 78% over the past year. We offer some
triaged recommendations to improve the speed of healthcare.gov.
- Case Study: PhiladelphiaOrthodontists.com Mobile Responsive Redesign
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What happens when you convert a site to be mobile responsive?
Mobile traffic increased by 24% and mobile browsers stayed 80%
longer after a responsive redesign.
- Case Study: Walkerworldtrade.com Server Upgrade
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Moving to a faster server can cut page load times by more than
half, and improve behavior metrics like conversion and exit rates.
We use Google Analytics to test Walkerworldtrade.com before and
after a server upgrade.
- Form Conversion Rate Optimization
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Learn how a combination of form optimization and speed improved
conversion rates by more than 92%,
- Upgrade to a Faster Server: Results
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We further explore the results of upgrading to a faster server.
Overall the site showed improved response speed and website
"stickiness." Average page load times improved by 48% to 60%
server response times improved by more than 60%, and people
stayed longer, viewed more pages, and bounced less.
- Upgrade to a Faster Server
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Upgrading to a faster server can improve web page speed
significantly, up to 66% faster for first paint time and 29% for
load times. We moved an example site to a faster server to test
the performance improvements.