Page Speed vs Meta Data - Which Is Better?

[Jeremy Booze]

Hello all,

Question for everyone. Do you believe page SEO ie (Schema, Image Meta Data) is more heavily weighted by google in regard to local rankings when compared to Page Speed? Or you believe Speed Is more Important?

Reason I'm asking is if any one has noticed a pattern in their local packs.

My client who once ranked constantly in the top three for multiple cities is now getting pushed down a bit to other GMBs that have websites with less DA, Thin Page Content, Some have Key Word Stuffed Domains and GMBs, and Limited or No Meta Mark-up. They do however have fairly substantial faster load times. This is largely due to all my images being market up with embed meta (geo data, key terms, description)

Has anyone done any research on how much validity there is to Page Speed and increased rankings?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

We did some testing around page speed and its impact on local ranking specifically and it was virtually undetectable. I think page speed can definitely have an impact on user experience which could have an indirect impact on rankings over time.

On page signals such as internal links, content and meta data has a far greater impact on local pack rankings in my experience.

 

[dgrunited]

Hello all,

Question for everyone. Do you believe page SEO ie (Schema, Image Meta Data) is more heavily weighted by google in regard to local rankings when compared to Page Speed? Or you believe Speed Is more Important?

Reason I'm asking is if any one has noticed a pattern in their local packs.

My client who once ranked constantly in the top three for multiple cities is now getting pushed down a bit to other GMBs that have websites with less DA, Thin Page Content, Some have Key Word Stuffed Domains and GMBs, and Limited or No Meta Mark-up. They do however have fairly substantial faster load times. This is largely due to all my images being market up with embed meta (geo data, key terms, description)

Has anyone done any research on how much validity there is to Page Speed and increased rankings?

This is primarily a keyword ranking issue. SEO & page speed are secondary issues. Keyword ranking will go up & down due to numerous reasons. SEO & page speed is only a small part of the ranking fluctuations.

 

[Brian Barwig]

As Colan said, on page factors are more important for ranking than Page Speed. Speed is relative as well. If you're site is fast and the competitors are slow, you may have an advantage, and vice versa. Page speed with small to medium sized businesses is a bit overrated in my opinion.