Web servers can often feel overwhelming - but optimising your servers can be critical to unlocking better SEO performance. In this talk, Ash will guide you through the vital concepts every SEO needs to grasp to improve server speed, with a specific focus on improving TTFB. Empowering you with the knowledge to make smarter back-end technical recommendations.
13. The metric to measure the time between a request for a
resource and when the first byte of a response arrives.
TTFB
Time To First Byte
GOOD
NEEDS
IMPROVEMENT
POOR
800 ms 1800 ms
#brightonSEO | @AshNewSEO
18. Each redirect can add up to 80ms to TTFB
Source: Matthew Edgar 2019 Case Study
https://www.matthewedgar.net/do-redirects-add-to-website-speed/ #brightonSEO | @AshNewSEO
20. Good Redirects
One Server-side Redirect
Server
redirects
to page B
Request
for Page A
Loads
Page B
Server
response
for page B
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38. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
Establishes the
connection
Ensures data is
transferred
correctly
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39. Ensures data is secure.
Required for HTTPS
Transport Layer Security (TLS) / SSL
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40. HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
Transfers text with links
to other documents
(HyperText)
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41. Key
Key
Hello
Upgrade to TLS 1.3
TCP + TLS 1.2 TCP + TLS 1.3
Hello
Hello + Key
Hello + Key
200ms
300ms
RESPONSE
GET
page.html
GET
page.html
RESPONSE
Time
#brightonSEO | @AshNewSEO
42. Upgrade to HTTP/2
Time
HTTP/1.1 HTTP/2
GET
page.html
GET
main.css
GET
app.js
GET
page.html
GET main.css
GET app.js
RESPONSE
RESPONSE
RESPONSE
RESPONSE
RESPONSE
RESPONSE
#brightonSEO | @AshNewSEO
43. What about QUIC + HTTP/3?
TCP + TLS 1.3 UDP + QUIC
200ms
100ms
GET
page.html
RESPONSE
GET
page.html
RESPONSE
Time
#brightonSEO | @AshNewSEO
52. Users connection
speed & quality
Severs connection
speed & quality
Server software &
hardware
Users browser &
hardware
Limiting Factors
Distance from user
USER / CRAWLER ORIGIN SERVER
DATA TRANSFER
Data packet size
Request handling
53. Severs connection
speed & quality
Server software &
hardware
Users connection
speed & quality
Users browser &
hardware
Limiting Factors
Distance from user
USER / CRAWLER ORIGIN SERVER
DATA TRANSFER
Data packet size
Request handling
54. Server connection
speed & quality
Server software &
hardware
Users connection
speed & quality
Users browser &
hardware
Limiting Factors
Distance from user
USER / CRAWLER ORIGIN SERVER
DATA TRANSFER
Data packet size
Request handling
55. Maximise Specs
Dedicated vs
Shared Hosting
Maximised
Memory
Better CPUs
(with more cores)
https://ismyhostfastyet.com/
#brightonSEO | @AshNewSEO
56. Most Common Web Server Software
Source: W3Techs
https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/web_server
#brightonSEO | @AshNewSEO
