Slow loading Web Pages and AdWords Quality Score

Google has announced that landing page load time will now become a factor in the AdWords Quality Score.



The impact of page load time will be negative rather than positive. That is, if your page loads slowly your Quality Score will be negatively affected. If no problems are found with the page load time then it will have no affect on Quality Score, with one exception. If your keyword is graded "No problems found" and marked "Load time is faster than the average in your server's geographic region" your landing page Quality Score may be positively affected.

According to Google, the addition of this metric is to enhance users' experience. Of course, there's a spin-off for advertisers too. The quality of the landing page is something that's often overlooked by advertisers. Often, when visitors fail to convert the quality of traffic gets the blame. When pages are slow to load, people get frustrated and are less inclined to stick around to see what's on offer.

You will have the opportunity to make changes to your landing page before the new metric comes into play.

The AdWords FAQs say:

"Beginning in March 2008, you'll be able to see a grade for your landing page's load time in your AdWords account. 'Load time'
refers to the amount of time it takes for a user to arrive at your functional landing page after clicking your ad.

"Four to six weeks after your load time grade becomes visible, it will begin to impact your landing page quality and, therefore, your Quality Score. We recommend working to improve your load time during this interim if it's received a low score."

Google does provide some tips for improving load time.

* Use fewer redirects.
* Reduce the page size by using fewer, smaller, and more
highly-compressed images.
* Do not use interstitial pages.
* Minimize the use of iframes on your landing page.
* Contact your webmaster or webhosting provider to discuss
other ways of improving your landing page's load time.

You can also check out a list of best practices for improving your load time here:
http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html