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Download time and search engine optimization (SEO)

I admit that download time is a topic I am quite passionate about. There is a considerable difference between actual download time and perceived download time. Many search engine optimization (SEO) professionals do not understand the differences and how each type impacts search engine visibility. So this reader's question captured my attention:

I hear you speak at search engine conferences, and you are always mentioning download time. It is one of your rules of web design - make sure that web pages are quick to download. Why is download time so important?

Actual vs. perceived download time
Download time and web server performance
Conclusion

Actual vs. perceived download time

For the sake of argument, let's just take search engine visibility out of the equation. Why would anyone create web pages with a quick download time?

First, let's talk about actual download time. After a person clicks on a link to your site, he/she does not like to wait very long to get the information they desire. In a shared server environment or during high-traffic situations (such as holiday season for many ecommerce sites), server performance is a concern. Pages might not be given to browsers as quickly.

The main reason any web site designer should minimize download time is to please your site visitors. No one likes to wait in line at the supermarket or a department store. Likewise, no one wants to wait for web pages to download.

Download time and web server performance

There are a lot of things that influence download time, but essentially it boils down to server performance. Ideally, you want your web server to give the search engine spiders your web pages as quickly as possible.

Search engines do measure download time, particularly when it comes to cloaking. If a cloaked page (Page 1) does not have the same file size as the actual page that end users see (Page 2), the search engines have a strong indication that the web site owner is participating in spam practices.

Search engines also prefer files that are 100K or less. If an XHTML file is greater than 100K (which is normal), some spiders won't read past the first 100K of information.

PDF files are different. Search engine software engineers know that PDF files are typically larger in file size (because fonts are embedded within PDFs, among other reasons). Therefore, PDF files can be larger than 100K and still be crawled and included in a search engine index.

As search engines improve their technologies, I am sure we will see these numbers change. In the meantime, keep the file size of your final web pages less than 60K or less, whenever possible.

There are exceptions, though. Graphic design sites normally take longer to download because designers like to preserve the quality of their graphic images. Game sites generally take longer to download as well.

Do not obsess over a 1K or 2K file size difference. If you find some pages take longer to download than others, then don't optimize that page as well as you might optimize other pages.

(Note: search engines do not include graphic image file sizes when they calculate download time of a web page. Remember, search engines index text and follow links. Graphic images are not XHTML text.)

Conclusion

Keep the file size of your final web pages less than 60K or less, whenever possible. Your end users will appreciate it.

Web searchers will appreciate it. Your target audience will appreciate it. And search engine spiders can have an easier time accessing your relevant content.

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