We have today received an official notice from Google that the recent changes to the Adwords quality scoring algorithm now include a page load time component.
The official word from the Googleplex Gods reads as follows:
"As part of our continuing efforts to improve the user experience, we will soon incorporate an additional factor into Quality Score: landing page load time. Load time is the amount of time it takes for a user to see the landing page after clicking an ad.
Why are we doing this?
Two reasons: first, users have the best experience when they don't have to wait a long time for landing pages to load. Interstitial pages, multiple redirects, excessively slow servers, and other things that can increase load times only keep users from getting what they want: information about your business. Second, users are more likely to abandon landing pages that load slowly, which can hurt your conversion rate.
When are we making this change?
In the next few weeks, we will add load time evaluations to the Keyword Analysis page (we'll notify you when they are available). You will then have one month to review your site and make necessary adjustments.
After the one month review period, this load time factor will be incorporated into your keywords' Quality Scores. Keywords with landing pages that load very slowly may get lower Quality Scores (and thus higher minimum bids). Conversely, keywords with landing pages that load very quickly may get higher Quality Scores and lower minimum bids."
Many advertisers will probably be in a bit of a lather over all of this, but based on our research, we take the same stand point as google, if users have to wait around for your page to load they will probably bounce away from the landing page and search elsewhere for what they want. This obviously will have a large impact on the campaigns ROI as there will be clicks which will not convert to sales.
If you want to read more on this subject, please see this Google Help article.
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