Will Google use the new site speed analytics to penalize your site?

[Bluestreak]

Since adding a new site speed feature to Google Analytics and considering they now use speed as a metric for your SERP ranking, I'm wondering if updating the GA code to track your page load times is really such a good idea. I could certainly see them using this as a new data source to evaluate site speed and penalize you if your site is too slow, even if Google insists that they would NEVER (angelic smile) do such a thing.

[Swanny007]

I've been taking G.A. off my sites. Goofle knows too much as it is about my site and it's visitors. Although AWStats isn't the best, at least I'm not letting Goofle spy on everyone. Take the GA stats code off, IMHO.

They've already admitted that site speed is yet another ranking factor, why make it easy for them to penalize you?

[pageoneresults]

I'm wondering if updating the GA code to track your page load times is really such a good idea.

I've implemented it. I like the idea of having per document speed analysis.

I could certainly see them using this as a new data source to evaluate site speed and penalize you if your site is too slow.

That can go both ways...

I could certainly see them using this as a new data source to evaluate site speed and reward you if your site is fast.

If you have GWT, they track overall site performance now, and have for quite some time. Go to Webmaster Tools > Labs > Site Performance.

They've already admitted that site speed is yet another ranking factor, why make it easy for them to penalize you?

It's going to happen whether you implement the tracking or not. So, why not be proactive in your approach, test it, see if it presents you with data that is actionable and will improve the overall performance of your site. I'd be willing to bet that it will.

If you have another way of tracking your document performance, by all means, use that too. The more the merrier. I'm serious, too many people missing the boat here. Google has been focused on performance for quite some time, they're just now letting you know, and giving you the tools to make improvements where applicable. ;)

Document performance doesn't get the attention it deserves. It should be at the top of the list for SEO. It's the foundation for everything else you will do. Everything.

[Bluestreak]

The site performance tracking in GWT is subpar and I suspect only lightly considered because it relies on the use of Google toolbars, which is why the site speed data potentially provided by Analytics would be far more accurate and thus very tempting to use.

Google might reward your site if you were running on a dedicated server and could afford the performance boost as well as a design team that can do your SEO for you, but for those with a much smaller budget, not so much.

It seems like the more data I hand off to Google, the more they use it against me. That might be paranoia talking, but I no longer see them as a neutral company providing services I could use without consequence.

From an objective POV I thought about why I would use GA. Much of it is heavily geared towards Adword/Adsense, which I don't use, and many of the metrics it can measure really aren't relevant to the kind of site I run, and I'm already paying for an another stats service to analyze the traffic to my site. So why am I using GA?

In that vein I decided to remove the code from my site altogether and delete my GA profile.

[money]

speed is important