Posts Tagged ‘page load speed’

Google Analytics Adding New Ways To Analyze Web Sites

Sunday, March 25th, 2012

Google have added two new features to their Analytics tool. The first measures social media interaction whilst the second measures page load speeds. These are two areas that we know Google are keen to include in their search algorithms. Page speed is an important issue for any website owner. The new tool added to Google Analytics makes it easy to see at a glance how a page is performing over time.

It’s easy for website owners to become complacent over issues such as page speed. You visit your pages and all appears well. They load quickly and with little drama, so why worry. However, at different times of the day, and on different days of the week, the story could be very different. Whilst the speed loading data isn’t comprehensive, you will be able to see at a glance if there are regular periods when your pages are loading slowly. You will also get an idea if one or more pages are loading far slower than others. This could indicate a page coding error, or a heavy graphics influence that may need looking into. Users are looking for fast page loading times – Google Analytics will prove to be a valuable tool for measuring your page loading speed.

The second tool looks at social media engagement. Although strongly influenced by Google 1+ data,  it does provide valuable insight into the source of your traffic. The Social Visitor Flow sector allows you see at a glance how much traffic and engagement your pages gain from individual social media sites.  You can also see at a glance which content is being shared on a regular basis – this is a good indicator of the type of content visitors are looking for – a good place to start if you’re running out of ideas for fresh content.

Google Analytics is by no means a comprehensive analytics tool. However, as a free resource, it does provide almost all the information a website owner needs. In fact, most website owners only use 10% of the data available. Spend a little time learning more about Google Analytics and you’ll be surprised how this free tool can help you improve your website. You can read more on the Page Speed tool here and the Social Media tool here.

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Posted in Tracking & Analytics | 4 Comments »

Time To Measure Page Load Speed

Friday, May 6th, 2011

For a couple of years now, Internet marketers have been debating the importance of page load speed. It is almost near consensus that Google finds page load speed important. A recent announcement that Google Analytics can now track and report page load speed should put any doubt to rest.

This is important news for a number of reasons:

  1. First and foremost, a slow loading website or landing page can affect your conversion rate. If this concerns you, then you should measure your page load speed and determine whether or not it is affecting your conversion rate. If so, figure out a way to speed up your website’s load time.
  2. You can check your site’s load time across multiple browsers. If your website loads slower in Internet Explorer, for instance, than it does in Chrome of Firefox, then you should take a look at your code to see why that is.
  3. Does geography play a role in load time? It could. By measuring your load time against geographical patterns, you can determine whether your website is too slow for a particular region. If so, can you fix it? If not, perhaps you should consider a new website that targets that specific region.
  4. You can now ask yourself if certain parts of your website load faster than other parts. Does your video section have a problem loading fast? How about your web-based apps? Check it out and fix the problems.

I believe Google uses page load speed to determine search engine rankings. This announcement all but confirms that. If not, then they will likely be doing so at some point in the future. But even if they don’t, you should have your own reasons for checking page load speed. Your site visitors expect it.

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Posted in Tracking & Analytics | 2 Comments »