There are many factors that affects search engine ranking. In on-page optimisation (strategies that can be implanted within your website itself), an important factor is site speed. Previously, it was not seen as a critical aspect in SEO. But as the market becomes more competitive, every little edge you can gain against the competitor can mean the difference between success and failure. So what do you need to know about site speed?

Try to benchmark your website with some of the fastest competing website. How does it compare? In some cases, all you need to do is to introduce thumbnail images on the site instead of posting the entire image. This technique can significantly improve your site speed, search engine ranking and your SEO Strategy. Another method is to resize images using CSS or HTML. Ultimately, the goal of search engines in giving priority to speed is user convenience. That said, it is not exactly clear how much weight search algorithms give to loading time. Since Google has already spelled it out, in no uncertain terms, that this metric is considered, that only means you should also give importance to this aspect.

There are a lot of reasons why Google suddenly deemed WebP crucial. The business model of the search engine relies on providing quick, reliable, and relevant results to users. “Quickness” is becoming an issue because of changing trends. Among these include:

Shift to Mobile Internet – more people on the go are browsing their computers through mobile devices. With this in mind, it is important to note that most cell phone service companies provide unlimited data packages. The difference between 2MB jpeg file and a compressed WebP will be noticeable especially if a user browses different sites. Pages that load full-sized images will inevitably take longer to display.

SEO Considerations – as you are probably aware, Google’s business model relies on their ability to provide quick and relevant results. To this end, they will best accomplish this with your cooperation. The search engine spiders will crawl the details of your website analysing a variety of considerations including site speed.

There is no doubt that going “WebP” will produce positive results for your website. And it is not only due to better search engine ranking. Users will also appreciate your initiative because it takes less time for them to browse the site. In the meantime, you can also potentially reduce your hosting and bandwidth cost! This is definitely a win-win solution for everyone.