Google Page Speed Service Launches Today
Google launches another part of the Page Speed family today—Page Speed Service—a service that assists web masters and developers in optimizing and loading their sites faster.
As we already know, Internet users can be a very, very irritable and impatient bunch. That is exactly the reason why webmasters like us aim to optimize our site’s performance by limiting content and use of graphics. But, you see, who doesn’t want to add nice images, creative Flash graphics, and videos to their websites? They are like icing on the cake that makes our web pages lively. The only problem is that with too many of those, our websites load slower than a garden snail—something that will turn off potential customers.
Fortunately, today, Google launched yet another part of Page Speed: Page Speed Service.
Page Speed is a project started by Google two years ago. However, until early this year, Page Speed is only available as an extension and an online tool. While these options are useful by themselves, they require time and some learning curve—some things that may perhaps peeve web developers.
Page Speed is a notable project as it promises improvements of 25-60% in loading time. With such benefit, you will not only guarantee your customers’ satisfaction, but you can rest assured that you can continuously engage them as well as be able to reduce bandwidth and hosting fees.
Now, you’re probably already asking: how much will it cost me?
There is no doubt that Google will be asking a fee for using this service once it is finalized. In fact, Google already allude to the fact that the service will be offered at a competitive price in the future. Nonetheless, for now, we can enjoy this service for free as it is currently an open source project that welcomes ideas for further development. If you are planning to use or have already tried it and think there are still ways to enhance it, you can simply join the discussion or offer your thoughts in the Page Speed page in Google Code.
Page Speed Arsenal
Although Page Speed is intended mostly to help your website load faster, it actually serves a lot of other purposes. For one, it assists you in further optimizing your website’s content. This is valuable since the suggestions come directly from the search engine we are all targeting to get first page ranking from.
Even better, Page Speed provides you with several options, each with benefits that will suit your role or preference.
First of all, you can get the browser extension. This will evaluate your site’s current performance, taking into account your web server’s configuration and front-end code. After the analysis, it provides you with suggestions on how to improve them. Sadly, though, this extension is currently offered only to Chrome and Firefox.
If you are hesitant to download the extension or are using a different browser, Page Speed Online may be your best bet. Not only will it help you analyze your website, but it can even look into the performance of your mobile site, specifically how it looks on Smartphones.
If you want your site to be automatically rewritten and optimized, perhaps mod_pagespeed Apache can useful. This module uses different filters to optimize JavaScript, HTML, and CSS stylesheets. You have to remember, though, that is effective only for web pages using Apache HTTP Server. If you are not using it, it is best to look at the options.
Then there is the latest addition to the family: Page Speed Service. Page Speed Service is Google’s “automatic” answer for web masters who want to get their web pages loading faster without breaking a sweat. To start using this service, you only need to fill out the web form here.
Unique or Not
Right now, Google Page Speed is creating a buzz because of its seemingly unique features. Not to mention it is launched by a renowned company. However, we are yet to find out whether it delivers real results and if it does more than already existing services like Amazon’s CloudFront, which also relies on a content distribution network (CDN) to help its clients.
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