There has been a lot of talk lately about how Google has changed the search engine optimization landscape by adding speed as an organic ranking factor. There have been a lot of cries about the ramifications of this move. Everybody who has worked with Google knows that Google is a big business’ business. Sure, it allows millions of people to bring their ads to Google and get traffic through paid and organic search results. But the treatment that the big boys get from Google is not comparable to what others’ get. That is certainly not a problem if you are a small business taking steps to move to the next level. But unlike what Matt Cutts suggest, this latest move will essentially give Google the blank check to give a boost to those companies with big pockets. There are many ways to improve a website’s speed and having a big budget can certainly help.

I won’t go into why I believe this move can backfire on Google big time. But I do agree with Matt Cutts that faster sites make for better experience and better conversions. Have you ever gone to a small website to shop for something unique only to leave frustrated due to the site being too slow to get anything done ? As a marketer, you should not put all your eggs in one basket. There are plenty of people who are complaining about how they trusted Google and went with its recommendations only to be screwed this time around. In reality, you should spend your time and effort to speed up your website to improve your conversions. Sure. Your search engine rankings matter too. You can have all the traffic in the world, but if you are not converting, you are wasting your time.

What’s disappointing about Google’s move is the fact that big businesses will have the opportunity to play the game with a big advantage over the smaller players. But my concern is more in smaller niches where a little change in ranking factors can push splogs to the top of the results. Trust me, that happens everyday on Google. But the biggest disappointment of it all is seeing all these marketers and small businesses complaining about how their sites are slow, and it’s going to be “tough” to fix them.

If you are a website owner and have not paid attention to your site’s speed, now’s the time. Never do it for Google. Google is not there to look out for you. Your landing pages and how they convert are what you are in control of. Speeding up your pages can only help your visitors make decisions faster without getting a bad impression about your website. You shouldn’t need an excuse (such as what Google is going to do or plans to do) to work on improving your conversion rates. So think of Google’s move as a blessing in disguise. You don’t have to agree with it, but speeding up your website can lead to more revenue/profits for you business. Who wouldn’t like that?