Google Page Speed Service Promises Faster Loading Time but Everybody's Not Happy

Internet speed-king Google has tapped Web masters through Page Speed Service, which will fetch content from the servers, rewrite pages and optimize overall Web performance so that the Web sites can load faster on browsers, but everybody's not happy about it.

In a blog post, Thursday, Google said Page Speed Service will speed up loading time by anything between 25-60 percent and has encouraged the webmasters to try out the service for themselves.

"Page Speed Service is an online service that automatically speeds up loading of your Web pages. To use the service, you need to sign up and point your site's DNS entry to Google. Page Speed Service fetches content from your servers, rewrites your pages by applying Web performance best practices, and serves them to end users via Google's servers across the globe. Your users will continue to access your site just as they did before, only with faster load times. Now you don't have to worry about concatenating CSS, compressing images, caching, gzipping resources, or other Web performance best practices," said Ram Ramani, an engineering manager on the Make the Web Faster Team in Bangalore, India.

During the pilot run "Page Speed Service is being offered to a limited set of Webmasters free of charge." Those interested can sign up here.

However, unlike earlier moves such as Google Instant Search, the Page Speed Service will not be free. Google wants us to pay for it. "Pricing will be competitive and details will be made available later," Ramani wrote.

The latest service follows Page Speed browser extension that was launched two years ago. Last year Google released mod_pagespeed, an Apache module to automatically rewrite web pages and earlier this year it released Page Speed Online API that contained suggestions for developers on how to make their web pages faster.

Google Page Speed Services is going leave many communities smiling:

Web masters: This is no doubt good news for Web masters as many of them don't know how to make pages load faster and even the more experienced ones find it challenging in making adjustments after the sites are already live.

However, there are many optimizations that can be done in the CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and the Flash objects used on Web pages to speed up loading time. In this regard, the Page Speed Service is going to make the lives of Web masters simpler as it will increase speed of load time and one doesn't need to be an expert to use the service as it all will happen behind the scene - all one needs to do is give Google the Web site's DNS entry information and Google will handle all the technical aspects of optimizing performance and upload times. How cool is that?

In a recent blog post (http://blog.tagman.com/2011/07/how-google-could-cost-online-retailers-millions-2/) TagMan founder Paul Cook said, "research shows that 10% of site traffic is lost for every extra second a site takes to load." If that's true, Page Speed Service could be the best thing Google has given to Web masters.

End users: Google has always been a consumer-focused company and Page Speed Service is a proof. By optimizing the loading time of Web sites, Google is helping the Netizens cut down on wait time and leaving them with more time to use the Web effectively.

Advertisers: Marketers and Advertisers will be welcoming the new Page Speed Service with a red carpet because they know that the speed in which Web site pages load can influence quality scores and, in turn, impact the price of keywords in paid search campaigns. In fact, the speed of page load times not only influences paid search campaigns, but also display, ad targeting and ad retargeting campaigns.

By promising to speed up loading time, Page Speed Service indirectly promises greater online engagement. And that means the online ads will have greater impact on the Netizens.

TagMan, which provides Web site page containers for multiple ad tags, has been stressing the importance of Web page load times for years and recently in a blog post (http://blog.tagman.com/2011/07/how-google-could-cost-online-retailers-millions-2/) TagMan Founder Paul Cook said "research shows that 10% of site traffic is lost for every extra second a site takes to load."

Google: Most importantly, it's going to leave Google smiling. The company's mantra has always been: A faster Web means more online activity and, more online activity ultimately means more ad revenue. Online ads contribute towards at least a half of Google's revenues and Page Speed Service is only going to help Google earn more not only because online activity will increase but also Google will be able to earn directly from offering this service.

However, not everyone is smiling.

The new service is going to ruffle a few feathers, especially those of content delivery network (CDN) service providers such as Akamai, Limelight Networks, MaxCDN, EdgeCast, Liquid Web and CDNetworks that specialize in speeding up delivery of Web site content.

However, Google isn't known for being compassionate towards its rivals. And, anyways, it can't please them all.

More information on Page Speed Service can be found here.