It's time to enable mod_gzip or mod_deflate

[aroyci67]

Recently read several articles on how Google is going to consider page load speed as one of the factors for ranking. The recent interview with Matt Cutts on Web Pro News confirms that new Google algorithms are going to be implemented just after the holidays.

It's now almost compulsory that we should work to make our web pages load faster. Firfox Page Speed add on suggests that we should apply Gzip Compression to our pages.

So, I would like to request you that please consider enabling the following modules.

• mod_deflate
• mod_gzip

Thanks.

[striddy]

Originally Posted by aroyci67

So, I would like to request you that please consider enabling the following modules.

• mod_deflate
• mod_gzip

They already are.

[aroyci67]

They already are? But I had a chat with somebody from the technical support yesterday who told me that it's not expect for Dedicated Hosting. Here's the part of the conversation I had with him -

• (5:20:15 AM) Richard Sa: Hello, Welcome to HostGator Live Chat, My name is Richard.
• (5:20:37 AM) Aroy: Hello, I want to enable gzip compression for my web pages to make it load even faster. However, configuring the .htaccess file is not making the gzip compression work. My question is does the hosting supports this ? If not, may be you need to enable something ...
• (5:20:54 AM) Richard Sa: Unfortunately that can only be done with a Dedicated Server.
• (5:21:02 AM) Richard Sa: http://www.hostgator.com/dedicated.shtml
• (5:22:15 AM) Aroy: Is that because of the excess CPU usage ?
• (5:23:00 AM) Richard Sa: Correct.

[striddy]

Originally Posted by aroyci67

They already are? But I had a chat with somebody from the technical support yesterday who told me that it's not expect for Dedicated Hosting. Here's the part of the conversation I had with him -

They are enabled on my reseller server. Check yourself via phpinfo()

[aroyci67]

Originally Posted by striddy

They are enabled on my reseller server. Check yourself via phpinfo()

Mine is a Reseller Account too. And I did check the phpinfo. It's there but it's not enabled . . . . at least not for gzip compression.

Check the following post on the same topic -

Request for enabling mod_gzip on Shared Hosting

It's a bit old post but still very much relevant. Note the reply from the Hostgator stuff.

[quietFinn]

Apache 2.x does not use mod_gzip any more, it uses mod_deflate instead.

[aroyci67]

Originally Posted by quietFinn

Apache 2.x does not use mod_gzip any more, it uses mod_deflate instead.

Correct. But that's not enabled either.

[jeds]

I believe David is right, they are both enabled. I put in a ticket yesterday asking which is recommended, got this reply:

The main differences between the two is that mod_deflate is faster while mod_gzip compresses data slightly better. On a shared server such as this, we recommend using mod_deflate since mod_gzip can use more system resources which can cause problems for other users. The following article may provide some additional useful details:

http://blog.usweb.com/archives/mod_d...aring-the-two/

At this moment the page referenced is not loading.
I have a reseller account.

[GatorDHanna]

I just spoke to our Deputy CTO and he told me that GZIP is enabled by default on new servers and can be put on upon request for older servers. We have updated our knowledge base to reflect this.

[GatorPatrick]

Sorry let me clarify. Sometimes us technical folk don't always communicate things clearly.

We do not support nor are we planning to support mod_gzip or mod_deflate due to performance reasons on our shared and/or reseller plans. When I told Doug we have zip support I was referring to zip support in PHP which is obviously something different.

As per needing mod_gzip or mod_deflate support I would recommend looking at our new VPS solutions as you'd have the flexibility to enable whichever apache modules you desired on one of those plans.

[striddy]

Originally Posted by GatorPatrick

I was referring to zip support in PHP which is obviously something different.

Then my post above (post # 2) is incorrect. Apologies to all for giving wrong info.

[aroyci67]

Thanks for clarifying, Patrick.

Google is pushing it hard but since you are not ready to enable it (by the way, it would have also saved us huge bandwidth cost .... hmmmm) we won't be able to implement the Site Performance related suggestions published on Google Web Master Blog on Dec 02, 2009.

Hopefully a day will come when Hostgator customers would not feel that they are being left behind. But at this point of time, let's pray that Google doesn't emphasize on Site Speed as much as they seems to be doing. Period.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by aroyci67

Thanks for clarifying, Patrick.

Google is pushing it hard but since you are not ready to enable it (by the way, it would have also saved us huge bandwidth cost .... hmmmm) we won't be able to implement the Site Performance related suggestions published on Google Web Master Blog on Dec 02, 2009.

Hopefully a day will come when Hostgator customers would not feel that they are being left behind. But at this point of time, let's pray that Google doesn't emphasize on Site Speed as much as they seems to be doing. Period.

1. Where do you see any indication in your links or elsewhere on the Google site that speed affects search results?

2. Why aren't you mentioning that Google does NOT measure site performance? It is tallying user reports of perceived speed of page loading--and not just any site visitors, but only those with Google Toolbar.

Moreover, a) there are currently more than 200 factors besides page loading speed affecting search results and b) gzip/mod_deflate is just one of dozens of "speed-up" suggestions made by the Google tool.

So IMO you're way overstating the case.

Maybe we can get people to believe Google will start to implement site death panels.

[aroyci67]

Am I overstating? May be. But not without any reason. I have post a reply to a similar thread earlier today. Here is the link. That will probably explain why I am a bit worried.

http://forums.hostgator.com/google-r...592#post194592

I am worried because a slightest advantage could result in my site slipping from the position it is now in after I worked hard for months to get there. I am worried because I live on my online business and just can't sit back and wait for some gurus and experts to tell me that I have to speed up my site to "get a little bit of a bonus" from Google. The competition is fierce and I can't afford to ignore Matt Cutts (aka Google, sometimes).

Now, answering your questions -

1. Where did I tell that Google is already the site speed is already affecting search results? I only said that in future it could be a factor.

2. Why didn't I mention that Google does NOT measure site performance? Simply because even if they don't do it now indications are that they could in near future. That's my understanding. And I don't have any intention other than to achieve higher ranking for my sites.

3. True. a) there are currently more than 200 factors besides page loading speed affecting search results -

Can't agree more. But so is the Title Meta tag - just one of those 200 factors. And I would always try to implement each of those 200 factors if possible. what am I doing wrong?

and b) gzip/mod_deflate is just one of dozens of "speed-up" suggestions made by the Google tool. - again very true. But when I use the Page Speed Tool (Firefox plugin recommended by Google) the first and foremost suggestion is "Enable gzip compression" - on top of everything else. To me it's important since I want to stay ahead in the race and each of those 12 suggestions are important to me. Agai, what am I doing wrong?


At the end, I would like to say it's a thing of the future and we have to wait for a few months to know if the Page Speed factor is going to affect our ranking and how. I will be happy if I find at the end of the day that "I overstated".

[Pitrow]

Originally Posted by aroyci67

I am worried because I live on my online business and just can't sit back and wait for some gurus and experts to tell me that I have to speed up my site to "get a little bit of a bonus" from Google. The competition is fierce and I can't afford to ignore Matt Cutts (aka Google, sometimes).

If you're really that worried about it, and are making a living off your website, how can you NOT afford to be on a dedicated server?

That's like a delivery driver choosing to use a 1979 ford pinto as his delivery vehicle. It'll get the job done, but not very well and not very efficiently.

If your website is that critical to you, step up and get a dedicated server and be done with it.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by aroyci67

1. Where did I tell that Google is already the site speed is already affecting search results? I only said that in future it could be a factor.

2. Why didn't I mention that Google does NOT measure site performance? Simply because even if they don't do it now indications are that they could in near future. That's my understanding. And I don't have any intention other than to achieve higher ranking for my sites.

You misunderstood my points.

1. It's not site speed. It's page load speed.

2. Google is not measuring but tallying user reports of perceived page load speed...big, big difference.

[aroyci67]

Okay.

(btw, by "site speed" I meant "page load speed")

[alemcherry]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

You misunderstood my points.
2. Google is not measuring but tallying user reports of perceived page load speed...big, big difference.

Whatever, server side compression can reduce the size of HTML pages to something like 20%, and this would result in faster loading of the page, irrespective of whether you are on a slow connection or fast.


But personally I dont think speed is going to be a big issue for SEO, unless the site is loading really slow. There are 100s of criteria deciding SERPS and pages loading very slow could get affected to a slow extend.

[zentrucker]

If I may reply quickly, I found this snippet of code to add to the top of my most heavily used php pages, and it works well - since compression is enabled in php ...

<?php if (substr_count($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING'], 'gzip')) ob_start("ob_gzhandler"); else ob_start(); ?>

Hope that helps ...

[Weboholic]

These should definitely be enabled...

[EarlyOut]

Which part of this post by HG staff, above, did you miss?

We do not support nor are we planning to support mod_gzip or mod_deflate due to performance reasons on our shared and/or reseller plans.

[Weboholic]

Originally Posted by EarlyOut

Which part of this post by HG staff, above, did you miss?

Yes I saw that but what are the performance reasons?

There's no need for your attitude.

[eLIANT]

Originally Posted by Weboholic

Yes I saw that. It doesn't change the fact that it should be enabled.

You do know the difference between a fact and an opinion, right?

[Weboholic]

What's with the attitude people? Have you nothing better to do?

This is the suggestions forum btw, there's no need for trolling.

[EarlyOut]

Originally Posted by Weboholic

Yes I saw that but what are the performance reasons?

Just a wild guess, but I'd say that if they enable mod_gzip or mod_deflate, it produces too much of a load on the server, and has a negative impact on response times.