Google to penalize advertisers with slow-loading pages

Companies advertising on Google's AdWords system better fine-tune their ad landing pages.

In its automated auction system, Google will soon be looking at the length of time it takes to see an advertiser's landing page once an ad is clicked as a factor in determining ad position and minimum bid for keywords.

People are more likely to abandon landing pages that load slowly, Google explained in its Inside AdWords blog.

I want to emphasize that I agree with the Google statement that people abandon pages that load too slowly.

[Rick Mc Callister]

I hate sloooooooooooooooow

You ma man! Kick them slowpokes from hell to breakfast!

[cb3431]

hmmm...

I abandon a site if it says ads by...<br /><br />Isn't a search engine supposed to return results based on how relative the site is to the search criteria?<br /><br />I'm glad I use ask.

[cnetcensorssuck]

You're cluless!

&lt;eom&gt;

[Endlezz]

rofl, cluEless idd

Ask is even worse if you Ask me :p

[cycledoc]

Advertisements

I avoid all formal ads that intervene on a page, fast or slow. As a result, many pages are not only unattactive but also virtually unusable. <br /><br />I'm most likely to respond to an ad encountered in a search if it is gemane. I will pay no attention to or try to block the most intrusive.<br /><br />There is a tradition in the U.S. to find ways to charge for what was formally provided "free." This is coming to the internet with ISP's charging for faster email service, priority ads etc. It will be too bad, as TV has become unwatchable and in the future the internet may become unusable.

[Phillep_H]

Free

Most of that "free" stuff was paid for by someone. <br /><br />&gt; There is a tradition in the U.S. to <br />&gt; find ways to charge for what was formally <br />&gt; provided "free."<br /><br />There is a tradition in many parts of the world for government officials to try to find some excuse to charge you for whatever you are doing in order to make money off it. It's called "soliciting a bribe". Our news media does not talk about it and teachers in our schools don't ever mention it because it makes the US (and Britain, and Canada) sound better than some of these other countries, "implicite criticism of other cultures, etc.

[Dead Soulman]

Not a problem for me.

With ABP, surfing the web is dandy. I only turn it off on pages that I think would need the money. But, MSN, FoxNews, and other big corporates like that, ABP to the rescue. Besides, if ads were not annoying and delay the loading of the page, I may not be bothered by it. However, too many sites have gone Flash-heavy without any regards for how it'd affect loading time. Then, you have the annoying flashing boxes and neon colored text that give me motion sickness. I don't think so. Websites owners need to learn how to keep it balanced.

[ghostofitpast]

Extra software not necessary

Why install software when your browser has a command to stop loading the page? Once I see what I need, I shut off the rest of the junk. That seems to work for most of the annoyances on Web pages I want to see.

[Glynist]

Not a problem for me either!!! :-)

I have a few different websites for different purposes but all of them have been written with a fast page load in mind. I can't stand waiting for Flash pages to load only to find out that actually there's no information, just flashing graphics that don't mean a thing!! One of my websites www.costablancaclassified.com is intended for English speaking people in Spain - the beautiful, relaxed country that I choose to live in, but an area where 1/2 meg Internet is a luxury, where a day without power cuts is a bigger luxury, and therefore, where fast loading pages are essential - any why not? If we wanted graphics we'd go to a gallery!

[Glynist]

Not a problem II

I have a few different websites for different purposes but all of them have been written with a fast page load in mind. I can't stand waiting for Flash pages to load only to find out that actually there's no information, just flashing graphics that don't mean a thing!! One of my websites www.costablancaclassified.com is intended for English speaking people in Spain - the beautiful, relaxed country that I choose to live in, but an area where 1/2 meg Internet is a luxury, where a day without power cuts is a bigger luxury, and therefore, where fast loading pages are essential - any why not? If we wanted graphics we'd go to a gallery!

[My-Self]

Do they count mod_deflate in the evaluation ?

I hope they take in account the Apache extension mod_deflate that compresses HTML pages on the fly as it's effect on long/complex pages for users with a slow connection is extremely important.<br /><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_deflate.html" target="_newWindow">http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_deflate.html</a><br /><br />If they do, that might convince more web hosts to enable this on their servers.

[rturner2]

Slow from where?

Where does Google ping or check your site from? Perhaps it is slow overseas but in your own country you are advertising / targeting it loads quickly due to peering vs slower international links?

[Riquez-001]

Ironic...

... since it's usually the ads that slow down the page.

[t8]

Not ironic

Google ads are extremely fast to load. Otherwise Google would be penalizing themselves and all websites that display Google ads.<br /><br />You really don't think that will happen do you?