Is Speed More Important Than Relevance?

     Google has been publishing a lot of posts which highlight the importance of page load times. In a nutshell, those which load extremely fast have a higher chance of getting a good Page Rank. Lumenbeing from Los Angeles wants to clarify whether this signifies a shift in priority from relevancy towards speed.

 

     Matt Cutts reiterates that relevance is still the main consideration for Page Rank. It is simply the most sensible determinant in providing searchers useful results and the company sticks to this philosophy. In fact, over 200 markers are in place to detect relevancy among indexed pages. When all these markers are equal, however, then the loading speed comes into play. If two pages are of the same relevance in relation to a query, the speed can become the tie breaker. Whichever loads faster will get the privilege of being listed at the top of the SERP.

 

     Google has noted that some websites invest heavily on infrastructure in order to provide a faster and more reliable service to their users. The company felt that it was only fitting to reward these efforts with better rankings, provided that all other conditions are met.