Matt Cutts, who works for Google, often posts fabulous videos that set the rumor mill straight on what Google’s practices are. In an earlier post, I linked to one of Matt’s videos to disabuse you of the notion that the meta keywords field buys you ANYTHING other than carpal tunnel. (Google ignores meta keywords.)

Today, I came across a video addressing the issue of the Facebook Like button, which many of you may have noticed DOES slow your sites down a bit. A site owner wanted to know if they should remove it because of the so-called almighty speed issue.

Matt addresses the speed vs. user experience issue in an extremely lucid manner, basically stating that Google merely wanted to “start a conversation” about site speeds – NOT cause the obsession with speed above all else that seems to be the result. He points out that if you sacrifice user experience and quality content for a speed score, you’re also hurting yourself with Google.

Bottom line: Keep your social media buttons and keep producing great content.