Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by Paul M on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 11/03/2013).

Can using social sharing widgets such as `Add this` can have a negative impact on a web site via slower load times?

Hello Everyone,

I`ve been reading that using social sharing widgets such as `Add this`  can have a negative impact on a web site via slower load times and the increase in outbound links.

Is there any truth to this?
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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

  • Paul M: Hello Everyone,

    I've been reading that using social sharing widgets such as 'Add this' ; can have a negative impact on a web site via slower load times and the increase in outbound links.

    Is there any truth to this?
  • A D Bassett: This could be true as widgets do make things go wonky but also with more mobile browsing such as it is maybe a widget for sharing isn't necessary now.  ;Most mobile devices have the functionality as standard.
  • Anthea Kawakib Poole: Can you check your site links? I'm no expert but I believe my "share" widget ended up including dead links. Not so good. I'm opting to get rid of mine whenever I update a page.
  • Paul M: @ A D
    On mobile that would make sense, however our target is the desktop user.
     ;
  • Paul M: @ Anthea
    I don't believe .the Add this widget includes dead links. I was more concerned about page load times and splitting page rank.
  • Mike Stetzer: Additional code on the page = slower page load times, especially with things like Social APIs.
  • Paul M: @ Mike
    I agree with that for sure but with social sharing being an important to an online presence...What's the alternative?
  • A D Bassett: +Paul McConnell  ; +Mike Stetzer  ;I agree with Mike on the code scenario and in regard to Social sharing however I think this importance is becoming less due to the amount of spam circulated etc
  • Andy Wigglesworth: Yes, social share buttons add an insane amount of loading time - but as long as your website isn't taking too long to load it should'nt be that much of a problem.

    Do the usual stuff by trying to defer the loading of javascript etc.

    Easiest thing you can do for quick tests is use something like - ; http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ do tests with your widget turned on/off ;

    Can't comment on the outbound links that widgets may add - I usually add social media icons myself.
  • Paul M: +A D Bassett I guess social sharing will go the route of reciprocal linking, guest article writing and blog posts!
  • A D Bassett: +Paul McConnell  ;It's just a minefield I guess something is fine until it gets swamped an then it is on to the next system or method etc getting a lot harder to be a jack of all trades these days.
  • Paul M: +Andy Wigglesworth Good suggestion. Tested 65/100 with a 2.08sec load time on an 829kb page. That's with the widgets turned on.
  • Paul M: +A D Bassett You're almost better off to stick with on site SEO and just create great content! ...Probably not the correct thing to day here :)
     ;
  • Justin Y: It could have a negative affect.
    I'd say add device detection to eliminate the social integrations/widgets from loading via mobile and also limit your social share options to the most commonly used or ones that you prefer to use for your desktop visits.
    It's also wise to load all JS before the closing body. That's my two cents.
  • Unique Websites: Addthis loads after the rest of the page has loaded so - imo - that's not such an issue; from memory, Digg Digg (Wordpress) enables lazy loading options.
  • Paul M: +Unique Websites I noticed that Addthis was loading after the rest of the page. Any other possible negatives with Addthis?
  • Unique Websites: +Paul McConnell  ;The main problem I have with Addthis is that - when I am ;amending existing ;websites using my PC - it slows my system down (I use Expression) to such an extent that it often crashes (unless I comment out the code and then delete the commenting out everytime I want to upload files). Changing code on the server is not a problem; changing code on Wordpress is not a problem and, once the site is live on the server, Addthis loads after the rest of the page as said before ;and so it doesn't really cause my site problems.

    As I get some social shares via Addthis, I have (so far) put up with the annoyances.
  • Luke Ciciliano: You're right on the content statement +Paul McConnell . Content is always going to be the most important part of SEO. That being said, I know Google has issued several statements stressing the importance of social signals.

    It's important to remember that there are several methods for putting social tie ins on one's site. We have several client sites scoring 90+/100 in Google's speed test with social media installed. What's your url? ;
  • Paul M: +Luke Ciciliano Thanks for the input...our url is http://www.kcbgraphics.com .
  • Luke Ciciliano: Thanks +Paul McConnell  ; I just ran a test on your site and your social integration isn't really the culprit on the speed side. Are you doing anything currently to speed your site up?
  • Paul M: We try to ensure we're hosting on a fast server that's not overloaded, optimize our images throughout the site, keep the addons/plugins to a minimum and have Gzip compression turned on +Luke Ciciliano . ; Our home page parse time is 0.371, number of queries is 379 and has a query time of ; 0.12957429393 ; ...that seems pretty healthy...doesn't it?

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 11/03/2013).

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