How does website load time affect my landing page quality?

Beginning in February 2008, you'll be able to see a grade for your website'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.

Several 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.

I. Why is load time a factor?

Users value ads that bring them to the information they want as efficiently as possible. A high-quality landing page should load quickly as well as feature unique, relevant content. Fast load times benefit advertisers as well, since users are less likely to abandon a site that loads quickly.

II. How is my load time graded?

Each of your keywords will receive a load time 'grade' depending on the destination URL associated with that keyword:

• If you assigned a keyword-level destination URL to a particular keyword, then the keyword's load time grade will be based on that URL.
• If you didn't assign a keyword-level destination URL, then the keyword's load time grade will reflect the slowest load time among the ads in the ad group.

Note that we evaluate your load time relative to the average in your geographical region.

III. How can I see if my load time is good or not?

You can see a keyword's load time grade on the Keyword Analysis page. The following information will be available:

• The load time will receive one of two grades. If it's graded This page loads slowly, your landing page quality and Quality Score will be negatively affected. If it's graded No problems found, your landing page quality and Quality Score will not be affected.
• You'll see the number of redirects the user is taken through after clicking your ad. Typically, the more redirects there are, the slower the load time.
• We'll report the site's average load time.
• We'll provide a comparison of the load time for your site versus other sites in the geographic area. Note that your load time grade is determined relative to the average in your geographical area.

IV. How can I improve my load time?

The AdWords system re-evaluates landing pages on a regular basis (approximately once a month). If you make significant improvements to your website's load time, you should see an improved Quality Score and lower minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bids. Note that your Quality Score may update incrementally over two to three months after you improve your load time.

Here are 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 website's load time.

You can also use Google's Webmaster Tools (not available in all languages) to graph the average download time for your site. To do so:

1. Sign in to Webmaster Tools with your Google Account login at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview .
2. Click your site if you see it on the page. If not, type in the URL of your website in the Sites field and click Add Site.
3. Select Tools in the sidebar.
4. Click Set crawl rate. Note that you'll need to have verified your site before you can do so.
5. The third graph will show your site's average load time.

Other resources (English only):

• Learn why your site may be loading slowly.
• See a list of best practices for improving your load time.