As of 18 June, Google is incorporating the page load time factor into your keywords’ Quality Scores.

“Keywords with landing pages that load 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.”

Google is doing this for two reasons:

1. First, they want consumers to have the best experience when clicking on a Ad (they don’t want consumers to wait a long time for landing pages to load) and;
2. Second, they want to help you improve your conversion rate (slow loading pages are more likely to abandoned and will hurt your conversion rate)

The inclusion of the load time factor by Google will most certainly help you improve conversion rates on your active Ads, but more important, it provides you with the opportunity to offer consumers the best possible experience when interacting with your brand or product.

How do you improve your page load time?
Google Adwords is able to re-evaluate your page load time on a regular basis and should you make significant improvements to your landing page’s load time, you should see a better Quality Score and lower minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bids.

To find out more, go to the AdWords Help Center to learn more about load time and landing page quality.