Page Load Speed Revisited - More Data

[Sally Stitts]

I started a discussion of page load speed last year -
[webmasterworld.com...]

Yesterday, I created a web page dealing with the subject.
Here are my conclusions -
1. Every Java code occurrence adds about 1/2 second to load time.
2. The Google +1 buttons MUST be removed, to speed up your pages.
3. Google Analytics SHOULD be removed, to speed up your pages.
4. Google AdSense will remain (unless speed is your absolute objective).

I used 2 of my sites to reach these conclusions.
BOTH are on the same server.
Site #1 uses Google AdSense, Google Analytics and Google +1 button.
Three Java lookups.
The average WMT speed = 2.6 seconds.

Site #2 does NOT use AdSense, Analytics or the +1 button.
Zero Java lookups.
The average WMT speed = 1.2 seconds.

If you disagree with my conclusions, then I would love to hear about it.

[edited by: tedster at 8:22 pm (utc) on Sep 8, 2011]

[tedster]

I'm amazed that all those JavaScript calls only added 1.4 seconds. In my experience, just one of them can add that much.

[levo]

1. Depends on the hostname (needs extra lookup or could be fetched with keepalive?), async load, location of the code in HTML (async javascript in header loads while the rest of the page loads), and latency.
2. IMHO any external javascript should be loaded dynamically, after onload. Not just for speed, to prevent the page to hang if that external service is down.

[robzilla]

1. Every Java code occurrence adds about 1/2 second to load time.

On the first page load, perhaps, but don't forget about the benefits of caching. That's why I host ga.js locally on some sites. One of them has an average speed of 0.5 seconds, according to GWT.

2. The Google +1 buttons MUST be removed, to speed up your pages.

As usual, there's a tradeoff here. If +1 works for your site (i.e. people actually use it & it brings in traffic), then the disadvantage in terms of page speed might simply be worth it. Here on WebmasterWorld, it looks quite useless to me.

3. Google Analytics SHOULD be removed, to speed up your pages.

See #1 & #2. Yes, pages load a tiny bit slower, but I get top-notch analytics in return.

4. Google AdSense will remain (unless speed is your absolute objective).

See #2. Money is often more important than speed, especially if your livelihood depends on your online revenue. Besides, Adsense is not so bad compared to other advertising networks.

[deadsea]

See #2. Money is often more important than speed, especially if your livelihood depends on your online revenue. Besides, Adsense is not so bad compared to other advertising networks.

I just removed a second ad network that I had below the fold as a backup. Removing it helped my load time as measured by these tools a lot.

These tools are so primitive though, analytics shouldn't hurt load time. Anything after the page load that is invisible to the user, or way below the fold, shouldn't be counted.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

#5 - Remove adsense from all but your best performing pages
#6 - Remove as many adsense units as you can from those pages, save the best or perhaps choose just one.

Google will take up to two weeks to notice the different but will INCREASE your traffic slightly and the changes will INCREASE your CTR and eCPM for the remaining units. The end result is a much faster site with fewer ads and nearly the same revenue. A side benefit, if not all of your pages have advertising your site looks less like it was created for the purpose of showing ads. Another tip - consider removing adsense from any page that gets you backlinks, such as the page samples GWT uses to tell you how fast your site is.

[walkman]

@Sgt_Kickaxe
Are you saying that Google will reward with xtra traffic even if it's a 1-2 second difference? I thought it mattered only for a tiny tiny % of truly slow sites.