I've been working on the page load speed on the Tri-County Web site.
My goal is to apply the techniques I have implemented on my website to the other site I manage. Google and Bing use page speed in factoring in page rankings. So the fast a site loads theoretically it should rank higher.
If a page takes too long to load the searcher will just leave before it loads and on the next site. Whichever search site you use it will consider the page is served up to the searcher a not answering the searcher request and therefore think your page is relevant. Relevancy is one of the three most important items to consider when developing content.
It has not been confirmed or denied by any entity that fast-loading sites help with ranking. It does help with visitors, especially on mobile devices.
There is a new Google update planned in the not distant future that will take into consideration page speed so let's err on the side of caution and go for a fast-loading website.
As you can see from the image below I have pretty much accomplished my goal.
NOTE: The site layout has changed since this article was written but the results are the same.
