P0Issue #72

Time to First Byte (TTFB)

❓ What does it mean?

❓ What is TTFB? Time to First Byte (TTFB) is the time it takes for a user’s browser to receive the first byte of data from the server after making an HTTP request. It measures server responsiveness and network latency. Good TTFB: < 200 ms Needs improvement: 200–500 ms Poor TTFB: > 500 ms

🚨 Why is it important for SEO?

🚨 Why TTFB Matters for SEO Google Ranking Factor: Page speed (including TTFB) influences SEO rankings. User Experience: A slow TTFB delays page rendering, making the site feel unresponsive. Crawl Efficiency: Googlebot may crawl fewer pages if the server is slow. Conversions: Slow-loading sites frustrate users and reduce engagement.

✅ How to Fix It

❌ Example of Poor TTFB A user clicks on www.example.com/product. The browser sends a request, but the server is overloaded or not optimized. It takes 1.2 seconds before the first byte of HTML is received. Result: Page feels slow, users may abandon, and SEO performance suffers.

❌ Bad Example

✅ Example of Good TTFB A request is made to www.example.com/product. The server responds in 100 ms with the first byte of data. The page begins rendering almost instantly. Result: Faster load, better SEO and user experience.

✅ Good Example

🛠 How to Improve TTFB Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve content closer to users. Enable server-side caching (e.g., page caching, Redis, Varnish). Optimize database queries and reduce unnecessary backend processing. Use modern web servers (e.g., Nginx, HTTP/2, QUIC/HTTP/3). Minimize use of heavy middleware or redirect chains. Ensure SSL/TLS handshakes are optimized.

⚡ Result

📈 SEO & UX Benefits Improved Core Web Vitals and page speed. Higher rankings due to faster load times. Better crawlability → Google can index more pages efficiently. Increased engagement & conversions → users stay longer on a fast site.