We have long known that Google has a ranking boost associated with page speed. We also know that it tends to impact sites more negatively, where the page speed algo will not rank exceptionally slow sites as well, when there are other sites with a better user experience with load times. And it is a relatively minor ranking signal compared to other signals Google uses to rank sites in the search results.
Gary Illyes at SMX Advanced this week confirmed that it is a minor ranking signal but that it acts as a tie breaker rather than something that will cause a significant boost in the rankings for a speedy site. He also confirmed it was similar to the https ranking boost Google does, which also acts as a tie breaker when there are two similar results, and the https can be the reason it scores the higher position in the search results.
The boost you get for speed is comparable to the one you get for https: more like a tie breaker. @methode #smx
— Jennifer Slegg (@jenstar) June 13, 2017
So if you are struggling breaking into the next position, upping your page speed could make the difference to move up a position, especially if your site is currently slow, or at least slower than your competitors.
