A presentation at SearchFest 2012 in in Portland, OR, USA by Jonathon Colman
Battlestar Galactica logo, brandmarks, imagery, characters, concepts, derivatives all © SyFy, a division of NBCUniversal. Learn more at http://www.syfy.com/battlestar/ Background image found via galactica.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
SEMpdx SearchFest 2012 – Advanced On-Site SEO SEO, Site Performance, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Jonathon Colman Twitter @jcolman In-House SEO for REI www.REI.com Background image found via matttoomb.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/galactica_overview.jpg
SEMpdx SearchFest 2012 – Advanced On-Site SEO Download: http://slidesha.re/BSG-SEO Jonathon Colman Twitter @jcolman In-House SEO for REI www.REI.com Background image found via matttoomb.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/galactica_overview.jpg
NE SEMpdx SearchFest 2012 – Advanced On-Site SEO W :D SC R’ TO EC IR Download: http://slidesha.re/BSG-SEO ! UT Jonathon Colman Twitter @jcolman In-House SEO for REI www.REI.com Background image found via matttoomb.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/galactica_overview.jpg
Background image found via gamespot.com/forums/topic/29005504/february-releases—crazly-packed-56k-oh-no-?page=5
SEO and Sandworms: Marketing on Arrakis Background image found via walldesk.net/wallpaper/wallpapers-games-emperor-battle-for-dune.asp?f=5779
Where are my keywords? Life on the Island of (not provided) Background image found via girlgonegeekblog.com/2012/04/confessions-of-a-lost-late-bloomer/
The Walking Dead: After the PandApocalypse Background image found via best-background-tv-desktop-wallpapers.blogspot.com/2011/08/walking-dead-tv-series-wallpapers.html
Background image found via gamespot.com/forums/topic/29005504/february-releases—crazly-packed-56k-oh-no-?page=5
BSG and SEO are a lot alike… Background image found via s1024.photobucket.com/albums/y301/haven75/Battlestar%20Galactica/?action=view¤t=seal_1024.jpg
Both focus on the activity of search… Background image found via spunkyjoes.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/frak-me-its-the-end-of-battlestar-galactica/
Both involve fighting with robots… Background image found via daddyhobby.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51935
Both have duplicate content… Background image found via forcesofgeek.com/2011/10/10-questions-to-see-if-youre-cylon.html
No, really – a LOT of duplicate content… Background image found via gavinrothery.com/my-blog/2011/10/21/starbuck-and-starbuck-in-starbucks-drinking-starbucks.html
It takes a genius to figure either one out! Background image found via suvudu.com/tag/gaius-baltar
OMG, it’s Ron Moore! Some guy. The creator of BSG lives in Portland(ia)! Background image found via comicsbulletin.com/main/reviews/portlandia-202-one-moore-episode
Psssst… that’s YOU! Both center on a hero… Background image found via tv.yahoo.com/battlestar-galactica/show/36672/photos/1
Aided by technologists and engineers… Background images found via imdb.com/media/rm3141241344/ch0008115 and tomcroom.com/?tag=battlestar-galactica
Who are held accountable by Leadership Background image found via thinkhero.com/2009/08/10/admiral-bill-adama-joins-the-green-hornet/
“SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA ROLL A HARD SIX.” Making the case for site performance optimizations
1% Google uses speed as an organic search ranking factor for the top 1% of competitive queries. Sources: Google, Matt Cutts [via Search Engine Land]
Good luck telling that to Admiral Cain… Speed isn’t a tactic for SEO… it’s a strategy for customers. Background image found via sitcomsonline.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/207020/size/big
2 Customers expect your web site to load in 2 seconds or less. Source: Forrester/Akamai [via GetElastic]
3 40% of customers will abandon any site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Source: Forrester/Akamai [via GetElastic]
7 The average Fortune 500 company web site takes 7 seconds to load. Source: Andrew Davies, Web Performance: A Whistlestop Tour…
7% For every 1 second of load time, conversion drops by 7%. Source: Strangeloop
16% For every 1 second of load time, user satisfaction drops by 16%. Source: Strangeloop
33% 33% of users surveyed expect a mobile site to load just as fast as or even faster than a desktop site. Source: KISSmetrics
50% A faster site reduces the costs of infrastructure and releases by 50% or more. Source: Shopzilla [via O’Reilly]
80% 80% of load time is dependent on front-end issues. Note: this can be up to 97% for mobile. Sources: Andrew Davies, Web Performance: A Whistlestop Tour… and Steve Souders, the Performance Golden Rule
“When [web sites] are fast, you feel good. What that comes down to is that you feel in control.” “That feeling… translates to happiness.” THIS IS NOT REALLY MATT Matt Mullenweg Co-founder of Wordpress Source: Improving Performance in Mature Web Apps Image found via pastemagazine.com/blogs/ctrl-v/2008/08/does-a-mccainpalin-ticket-tighroslin-battlestar-ti.html
Site speed helps you during times of crisis Background image found via denofgeek.com/television/294099/battlestar_galactica_season_1_episode_1_review_33.html
It helps you conduct tests with less cost Background image found via screened.com/tigh-me-up-tigh-me-down/18-70970/
It helps you make decisions using data Background image found via ebay.com/itm/LAURA-BATTLESTAR-GALACTICA-BSG-COLONIAL-FLEET-PRESIDENTIAL-ELECTION-BALLOT-PROP-/350518762669#ht_1974wt_795
And deliver content quickly to customers Background image found via ign.com/boards/threads/battlestar-galactica-blood-and-chrome.207851179/
“ACTION STATIONS! SPIN UP THE FTL DRIVES!” Optimizing for site performance
Study and learn from the best Sources: Yahoo, Google, Steve Souders
Free tools can help you get started now Sources: Yahoo! YSlow, Firebug, Google Page Speed, Google Analytics, WebPageTest and Pingdom
The Basics: 10 quick wins for site speed Background image found via scifivoyage.blogspot.com/2010/06/nubsg-miniseries-part-1.html
RATIONALE: Creates unnecessary HTTP requests and wasteful JS execution. As team size/code complexity increases, so do duplicates and unused code! Refactor or remove code you’re not actively using. Source: http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html#js_dupes and http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/docs/payload.html#RemoveUnusedCSS Background image found via battlestarfanclub.com/profiles/blogs/battlestar-galactica-fanclub
Intermediate level: CSS sprites for images Background image found via my.opera.com/alexs/albums/showpic.dml?album=382080&picture=6108656
CSS sprites reduce HTTP requests CSS PROPERTIES USED: background-image: url(img/DRADIS-icons.png); background-position: 0 0; RATIONALE: Reducing total HTTP requests greatly improves site performance. Combining common images into “sprites” reduces requests, latency, overhead, and total page file size. Source: http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/docs/rtt.html#SpriteImages
Best practices for CSS sprites Combine images into sprites when: § Images load together § Images have similar color palettes § Images are PNGs and/or GIFs § Images are both small and cacheable Do not use for large JPGs/photos. Source: http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/docs/rtt.html#SpriteImages
Here’s a site-wide sprite on REI.com Implementing these CSS sprites saved us nearly a whole second of avg. page load time. Source: http://www.rei.com/img/sprite_rei1.png
Here’s a complex Google example Source: http://www.google.com/doodles/jim-hensons-75th-birthday
This sprite is a 60-frame animation! Source: http://www.google.com/logos/2011/henson11-hp-6ea.png
“WE’VE JUMPED WAY BEYOND THE RED LINE.” Advanced examples of performance optimization
StackExchange moves to a CDN, crowd-sources performance tests Source: Jeff Atwood’s Coding Horror blog
Etsy.com uses BitTorrent to replicate its search index across servers Source: Etsy Code As Craft blog
“THE UPGRADES WILL TRIPLE THE FLEET’S JUMP CAPACITY.” SEO results from REI’s site performance optimizations
-50% A decrease in the time it took for Google to crawl an average page.
+100% A increase in the amount of total pages Google crawled per day.
-1.5 We saved customers seconds per page view. Multiplied by all page views…
We saved customers 22 Background image found via galacticasitrep.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html years of time.
Time they’ll spend Background image found via galactica.wikia.com/wiki/Earth outside vs. online
“LIGHTEN UP – IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD.” In conclusion…
The Final Five Background image found via galactica.wikia.com/wiki/Humanoid_Cylon
The Final Five Takeaways § The site performance business case isn’t just about SEO – it’s about customer UX § Plan a budget/time for performance work § Start with quick wins, “shrink the change” § Set speed targets for all new features § Measure, celebrate, and repeat “All of this has happened before… and all of this will happen again.” Background image found via galactica.wikia.com/wiki/Humanoid_Cylon
Thank you – so say we all! Jonathon Colman In-House SEO for REI about.me/jcolman Twitter: @jcolman hi rin g! ht tp :// bi t .l y/ re i jcolman@rei.com W e’ re E-mail: -jo bs Home:
A look at how SEOs can begin thinking about the huge impact that site performance has on the user experience as well as simple tips and best practices to help SEOs get started with site speed optimization. All told through the lens of TV’s “Battlestar Galactica,” which has many parallels to the work that SEOs do.
Also included is a look at how front-end site performance engineering lead to record SEO results for REI.com as well as how SEOs can develop a business case for their organizations to invest in site performance optimization.
Originally presented at SearchFest 2012 by SEMpdx in Portland, Oregon on February 24, 2012.
Please note that the “Battlestar Galactica” logo, brandmarks, imagery, characters, concepts, derivatives all copyright © SyFy, a division of NBCUniversal. Learn more at http://www.syfy.com/battlestar/
Please don’t sue me, SyFy! I’m a huge fan and you wouldn’t believe how many new people I’ve introduced to BSG and your network by giving this presentation and sharing it online! :)
Here’s what was said about this presentation on Twitter.
If you didn't know how much @jcolman loves BSG, he & Roger at #glactibash last week #searchfest http://t.co/QkX2AFuw
— Erica (@emcgillivray) February 24, 2012
@jcolman This deck kicks ass, man!
— MyCool King (@iPullRank) February 24, 2012
@jcolman EPIC presentation. Love Battlestar Galactica. Love site speed. Wish I saw it in person. #searchfest
— Adam Audette (@audette) February 24, 2012
"@jcolman: Want to learn about SEO, Site Speed, and Battlestar Galactica? Check out my #SearchFest slides: http://t.co/tBCzHJYw #BSG"
— Ariel Acosta (@acostaariel) February 24, 2012
7. Use a small, cached favicon.ico 8. Avoid empt <img>s 9. Compress images, use dimensions 10. Avoid redirects @jcolman #SearchFest
— Cecily Crout (@cecilyc) February 24, 2012
Cumatively over the course of a year @jcolman saved @REI customers 22 years of time by improving site speed. #SearchFest
— Cecily Crout (@cecilyc) February 24, 2012
http://t.co/UbjH7E3G @jcolman this is brilliant. Made my SEO morning
— Anna Varney (@MrsAnnaVarney) February 25, 2012
Improved site performance = improved SEO. Visitors expect website to load in 2 sec or less. @jcolman #searchfest
— Kelli Sussman (@ciwdwebdesign) February 24, 2012
Great mental image, "the amount of time it takes for Google to slurp down our site" @jcolman re optimizing page load time #searchfest
— Aaron Bean (@aaron_bean) February 24, 2012
SEO, Site Speed, and Battlestar Galactica http://t.co/25ZuNrvs via @jcolman
— Sylvain Kalache (@SylvainKalache) February 26, 2012
'SEO, Site Speed, and Battlestar Galactica' by @jcolman is a #SlideShare presentation of the day http://t.co/BF4ychH4 #seo
— LinkedIn SlideShare (@SlideShare) February 25, 2012
"40% of customers will abandon your site if it doesn't load in 3 sec. or less." - @jcolman #searchfest
— Anvil (@anvilmedia) February 24, 2012
Fantastic deck on site-speed! http://t.co/Pplnke4p via @jcolman
— Dan Shure (@dan_shure) February 24, 2012
@jcolman presentation #searchfest2012 is full of nuggets. Great stuff
— Dennis Goedegebuure (@TheNextCorner) February 24, 2012
@jcolman is killing it in the #advancedseo segment! Humor, Battlestar Galactica, and incredible in-depth information. #searchfest
— Aaron Nice (@AaronNice) February 24, 2012
123..gone. RT @MargeryS 40% of customers will abandon your site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load @jcolman #SearchFest
— Lisa Sanner (@LisaSanner) February 24, 2012
#searchfest @jcolman "SEO and Site Performance" is relating his entire presentation to Battlestar Galactica
— Add3 (@add3com) February 24, 2012
watching @jcolman @sempdx #searchfest. hilarious opening.
— David Mihm (@davidmihm) February 24, 2012
#nowblogging for Advanced On-site #SEO tactics with @TheNextCorner @jcolman looking forward to listening and learning!
— Jessica J. Raschio (@Jessica_J) February 24, 2012
Kicking-off "Advanced On-Site SEO" with @TheNextCorner & @jcolman! Tweet your fave takeaways! #searchfest
— SEMpdx (@SEMpdx) February 24, 2012