I am now back in New Jersey after spending my annual week in Seattle at the SMX Advanced conference, updating and working with the best minds in the industry to see what works and what does not, and what is safe and what is not. One of the major takeaways I had from the event was that, in an era when speed is critical for SEO and user experience in general, is that http/2 can be a quick and easy upgrade to your site speed.  I know you are worried about your business and don’t have time to figure out what http/2 is and how it helps. The good news is you don’t necessarily have to. You can implement it fairly easily and you don’t have to know all of the details.

HTTP/2 Used By Top Ranking Sites and Not Hard to Implement

Site SpeedA recent study by Searchmetrics showed that the top ranking sites are using advanced tech like http/2 to boost speed, which is more and more important for SEO and user experience. It is basically just a new and improved version of the code used to build websites that pulls the information up in the browser far more efficiently than the old version.  The good news is that in many cases you can implement it on your site without a redesign or major overhaul to the site.  Many hosting companies actually offer it with hosting plans. Yes, in some cases you can just push a button and make it happen. I have talked about how much AMP can help with page speed and have implemented it for many of my clients, but it doesn’t work with some WordPress themes and requires some setup work by the developer, who often times isn’t overly familiar with AMP and hesitant to apply it. HTTP/2 is applied by the host and can just be added to your hosting plan. In fact, some hosting companies like Siteground have it automatically applied to certain levels of hosting. I had it applied to my site and didn’t even realize it. It is worth checking with your hosting provider if they need to turn it on or if you need an upgrade. It is possibly worth it for a few dollars more per month.  It almost always improves site speed and I have heard people say they have seen averages of near 50% boost in speed with implementation.

Check for HTTP/2 with Your Hosting Provider

To look into HTTP/2 for your site, just ask your hosting company. It is worth asking today. Go to their site and search their support docs for http/2 or chat and ask how it is implemented. If your hosting company doesn’t offer it, it is worth considering moving to one that does. Hosting is important, and I see a lot of poor performance from cheap and bad hosting companies.  Reach out and give it a try.