Matt Cutts has posted a blog about Google's use of website loading times (speed) in their ranking algorithm. It comes as no surprise to most webmasters as Google made the initial announcement last year.  But they have now confirmed that it is live on the Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Both posts point out that webmasters need not panic as it is not a major factor in the rankings, but where all other factors are equal it may give you an advantage over your competitors.

The Google Webmaster Central Blog provides a number of links to free tools that can be used to evaluate a website's speed and if a site is registered with Google Webmaster Tools, there is a new menu option giving specific examples of how to improve speed on each individual site.