For this reason, download time is almost always to blame for slow pages. So, even if you've taken steps to ensure that your site is up and that it responds quickly, your monitoring efforts are not complete without looking into download times. Most Web sites contain many components, and therefore many things that can negatively affect the speed at which the pages load. Fortunately, many current monitoring tools and services allow you to pinpoint exactly what is slowing your pages. We've all had the experience of eagerly surfing through a site, only to click on a link that returns an error message or a blank page.
Nothing undermines the credibility of a site quite like such an abrupt dead end.
Because all but the most rudimentary Web sites contain numerous links, chances are that your site, too, poses a potential threat to smooth surfing. Therefore, checking links on a continual basis is an important part of performance monitoring. And because it's also one of the simplest and least-expensive monitoring processes, there's no reason your customers should ever be derailed as they click through your site. A search engine will be of little use if it does not access all your content. Develop a procedure that you can follow to make sure your search engine will be updated, and determine who will be responsible for updating it.