Google's Page Speed Server Module Now Out Of Beta: mod

Google’s Page Speed Server Module Now Out Of Beta: mod_pagespeed

Oct 10, 2012 at 4:16pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google announced the Apache HTTP server module they released to help webmasters speed up their sites about two years ago is now out of beta.

Google said that after eighteen releases they are now “taking off the Beta label” off mod_pagespeed, an open-source Apache HTTP server module that helps improve load times, speed, and server resources with CSS, JavaScript, images and other properties to make for faster web pages.

Google claims over 120,000 sites are currently using it to speed up their web sites.

Webmasters and server administrators can learn more about this server tool at developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/mod.

As you know, Google finds page speed important. They use it as a factor in both organic and paid search. They have a page speed analytics tool in Webmaster Tools and several other tools to help webmaster measure their web page speed.

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Google: Other

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz

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Alan

Just bypass apache all together. Nginx is better and faster and it’s caching system is much better than anything apache can do.
jonathannelson

YES! Apache is an over bloated piece of junk.
http://igvita.com/ Ilya Grigorik

We’re big fans of nginx, but the latest versions of Apache also perform *very* well, even for use cases like serving static assets, where nginx usually shines.

The thing to keep in mind is that mod_pagespeed does *a lot* more than just serve the assets fast – it also optimizes the assets. As an example, serving a 2mb PNG, where a 400kb JPEG could have been provided is not a win for the user, and that’s exactly the kind of optimization that mod_pagespeed provides (and many others). In other words, give it a shot!
Alan

Apache was good for it’s time. However these days we want more bang for our buck and Apache is just to bloated. If you want to see what nginx can do have a read of this http://www.ewanleith.com/blog/900/10-million-hits-a-day-with-wordpress-using-a-15-server

it is not my site!