Simsi - 5:41 pm on Dec 3, 2009 (gmt 0)

Ranking on speed doesn't seem to make much sense to me, not unless you are talking about several seconds. It would surely make more sense to see how a user behaves visiting the site. If they return to the SERPS pretty quick then whether it was a speed issue or a content issue, clearly the page hasn't done the trick. If they stick on the page and don't come back for another option, then it's more than likely it has. Monitoring user behaviour negates the need to measure speed IMO.

There are certain technologies and online applications where a second or two's delay will actually result in more accurate content being delivered, so penalising these sites is assumptive and not necessarily an improvement for the user. Most sites where a delay is necessary would also display "loading" messages too.

It seems logical therefore that as speed does not necessarily reflect quality of content, if there is an effect, it will be minimal.