Time to First Byte (TTFB) – SEO Ranking factor for Google?

Every basic SEO guide will  mention site speed. You need a fast site, your users are impatient, your rankings will drop, etc.

While the importance of website speed is emphasized almost nonstop, few guides take the time to go the extra step and explain what improving website speed entails – or even what factors come into play when it comes to making your website faster.

If you need to improve your site speed to boost your SEO, start by looking at your  time to first byte (TTFB) .

This metric has a significant impact on your rankings and user experience. It can also be the hardest thing to change if you don’t know what you’re doing. Luckily, we’re here to help. 

What is Time to First Byte (TTFB)?

TTFB (as part of CoreWebVitals ) is the time it takes to request information from the server and to send the requested information. (In layman’s terms, it is the time between navigating to a web page and starting to render.) This period includes:

• The server request, which may vary depending on location and internet connection
• The time required to process a request or generate a response
• The time it takes to send information based on the question. 

Return time accounts for 40% of the total TTFB. The slower the TTFB, the longer it takes for your users to see content on your website.  

Here is  Google’s official definition  of TTFB:

TTFB (Time to First Byte) is a fundamental metric for measuring connection setup time and web server response time in both the lab and the field. It helps identify when a web server is too slow to respond to requests. For navigation requests, i.e. requests for an HTML document, it outperforms any other meaningful metric of loading performance.

Time to First Byte is a very useful metric that gives feedback on the server’s ability to set up a connection and the reaction time of the web server, basically showing how fast a server starts reacting when a request is presented. It is especially useful in measuring the performance in initial page loads, like requesting an HTML document, as it is clearer that other performance metrics give about loading. TTFB is helpful both in controlled environments such as lab testing and in real-world cases, helping to pinpoint bottlenecks in server response times.

Google places a lot of importance on TTFB in search rankings, and this metric is significantly different from your page loading speed. In fact, many SEO professionals have seen that Google places significantly more importance on TTFB than page speed. 

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Like most SEO elements, TTFB is closely tied to user experience. Users who have to wait for your page to load (without any actual indication that the site is online and about to load in the next few seconds) and are more likely to bounce due to a poor experience. The more you frustrate your users, the more Google will devalue your site.

What is a good TTFB?

According to SearchEnginePeople and Google, your TTFB must be less than 200 milliseconds (ms). This number also differs depending on the type of content on your page. Static content should load at a speed of 100 ms, while dynamic content should load at a speed of 200 – 500 ms.

The 500ms mark is the maximum time that both Google and your users can tolerate – especially because the rest of the page still has to load after the first byte hit.

How to check your TTFB

There are several resources available to check your time to first byte and monitor your speed for different pages and content types:

• Bytecheckis one of the easiest tools to use. It gives you a clear TTFB report and also shows other elements and data points that you might be interested in. Bytecheck also gives your website a five-star rating.
• WebPageTestoffers more options. You can run the test by location (e.g. Chicago, Sydney or Berlin) and by device. You can also run the test in different browsers to see if your TTFB changes dramatically between Chrome, Mozilla, etc.
• KeyCDNis an overall performance tester that checks various elements related to the health of your website. You can sign up for a free trial or check out their different plans if you’re testing multiple sites over time.

These are just some of the options available to you for monitoring your TTFB. You may find one you like in this list, or you may need to keep searching for a tool that fits your needs.

How to improve Time to First Byte

As mentioned, understanding and tracking time to first byte is the easy part. Improving your TTFB is usually more complicated, especially since there are several factors at play – and many of them are outside of your control. Factors that contribute to TTFB within WordPress include:

• Network latency:  Communication delays within the network.
• High web traffic:  The demand on the servers to retrieve information. 
• Server configuration:  the type of servers that retrieve information and their performance.
• DNS response time:  The time it takes for the server to recognize your domain name and translate it into an IP address. 
• Dynamic content:  Blog posts, videos, and updates to your website that are added frequently. 

As you can see, elements like high web traffic are largely out of your control. Additionally, you won’t stop creating dynamic content just because it has lower TTFB metrics. However, some of these elements are within your control and you can take steps to improve your TTFB even if you don’t consider yourself very tech-savvy.

Best practices to keep in mind to improve your TTFB include:

• Choose a fast web host:  Choosing a fast host for your website will relieve you of the burden of having a fast TTFB. This is a great option for small businesses that just need a simple website.  
• Keep your plugins and themes up to date:  Old plugins and themes are clunky and slow. Many developers include performance improvements in their updates, so your TTFB can get better over time. 
• Use a CDN:  A CDN ( content delivery network ) uses global servers to deliver static content faster. This reduces network latency because users get the content from a server that is closer to them. A CDN is especially useful for e-commerce sites or brands that receive traffic from large geographic areas.  
• Find a Premium DNS Service:  When choosing your hosting service, make sure you can upgrade to a premium DNS service if you need it. This is usually an add-on to many hosting options. If your other TTFB improvements aren’t producing the results you want, you can upgrade your sites to a premium DNS service. 

There are many elements that go into TTFB – and that’s a good thing. This means there are several threads you can pull to improve it. You can test some of these options individually to see which ones have the biggest impact, and then combine them together.

Improve your website speed and other SEO factors

Your time to first byte is not a silver bullet to improve your rankings and user experience. It is one of several elements that Google considers when interacting with your brand. If you want to see how your site performs, check out our  free SEO analysis  . You can enter your site and get a report on your site’s strengths, opportunities and weaknesses. One of our team members will also be happy to go through your report with you. 

SEO is a process. You can’t expect to achieve high rankings overnight and then keep them forever. Work on your TTFB and other SEO factors to stay on top and attract new customers to your brand.