{"id":97976,"date":"2012-12-15T13:32:18","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T13:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976"},"modified":"2025-03-12T13:47:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T13:47:48","slug":"page-load-testing-embedding-with-docstoc-and-scribd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976","title":{"rendered":"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>3 Minute, 21 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#f5f5dc” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FFFFFF” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ width=”84%”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ custom_margin=”|||13px|false|false” text_font_size=”17px”]<\/p>\n

As I work in search engine marketing \u2013 I frequently test my sites\u2019 page load times just to make sure I\u2019m getting my content to visitors as quickly as possible. I don\u2019t spend a lot of time worrying about my blog \u2013 until I posted an embedded pdf on a post recently and noticed a significant performance drop off. I ran this site through the great tool at\u00a0<\/span>Webpagetest.org<\/a>. I was appalled to see 10 second+ load times!!!1 I dug into the numbers and saw that my scribd embed was hogging bandwidth\u00a0<\/span>like a sonofabitch<\/em>. I knew there are basically two players in this field \u2013\u00a0<\/span>scribd<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>docstoc<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>so i figured I would test page load time with each. The results are pretty interesting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Page<\/th>\nBrowser<\/th>\nLoad Time<\/th>\nFully Loaded<\/th>\nReq<\/th>\nBytes in<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
DocStoc<\/td>\nChrome<\/a><\/td>\n\u2713 0.616s<\/td>\n4.324s<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n258 KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DocStoc<\/td>\nFirefox<\/a><\/td>\n1.295s<\/td>\n3.681s<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n258 KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DocStoc<\/td>\nIE8<\/a><\/td>\n1.348s<\/td>\n3.900s<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n258 KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scribd<\/td>\nFirefox<\/a><\/td>\n7.800s<\/td>\n8.556s<\/td>\n49<\/td>\n557 KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scribd<\/td>\nChrome<\/a><\/td>\n8.378s<\/td>\n9.198s<\/td>\n57<\/td>\n552 KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scribd<\/td>\nIE8<\/a><\/td>\n15.269s<\/td>\n15.755s<\/td>\n63<\/td>\n742 KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

DocStoc loads a flash object \u2013 while scribd loads up a remote page via an iframe. Intuitively one might expect flash to perform worse \u2013 but in this case the biggest culprit is the sheer volume of third party scripts scribd is embedding. Depending on browser between 49-63 request compared to DocStoc\u2019s consistent 12. Additionally scribd serves up over twice the total page weight as does DocStoc (257kb vs 552-743kb). Scribd clearly isn\u2019t concerned enuogh about user experience with their embedded documents.<\/p>\n

Some notes about the test \u2013 first off its clearly unscientific \u2013 but the difference in load time was such that further tests seem pretty pointless. I used the default embed code from each site \u2013 and uploaded the same simple text document to each (a simple robots.txt file). Each page was identical and loaded no other external resources. The pages can be seen\u00a0<\/span>here\u00a0<\/span><\/a>and\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A few items of interest \u2013 scribd is including twitter, facebook and google+ external javascripts which is probably not as noticeable on many sites \u2013 but still a very heavy bandwidth decision. The one item that stands apart though is scribd\u2019s decision to include a quantcast tracking code (http:\/\/edge.quantserve.com\/quant.js). Looks like a bid to inflate their quantcast numbers \u2013\u00a0<\/span>judging by their traffic there<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ background_color=”#FFFFFF” width=”84%” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ border_width_all=”1px”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” type=”2_5″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/7a6a5459aadbba9ad700bc6d7ae095d0.jpeg” _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” title_text=”7a6a5459aadbba9ad700bc6d7ae095d0″ hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ align=”center”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” type=”3_5″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ text_font_size=”14px” custom_margin=”|||-146px|false|false”]<\/p>\n

Author:\u00a0<\/span>Ryan Underdown<\/a><\/h3>\n

My name is Ryan Underdown, I\u2019m the director of search engine marketing for Web-Op where I get to work on lots of interesting projects. Please follow me on\u00a0<\/span>twitter<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#f5f5dc” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FFFFFF” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ width=”84%”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.8.2″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ custom_margin=”|||13px|false|false” text_font_size=”17px”] As I work in search engine marketing \u2013 I frequently test my sites\u2019 page load times just to make sure I\u2019m getting my content to visitors as quickly as possible. I don\u2019t spend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[50,51,52],"class_list":["post-97976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seo","tag-docstoc","tag-quantcast","tag-scribd"],"yoast_head":"\nPage Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd - Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Internet Marketer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd - Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Internet Marketer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-15T13:32:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-12T13:47:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Patrick Phillips\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Patrick Phillips\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?p=97976#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?p=97976\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Patrick Phillips\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/335c6264135fc4905e6428ffff5e1b2e\"},\"headline\":\"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-15T13:32:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-12T13:47:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?p=97976\"},\"wordCount\":611,\"keywords\":[\"docstoc\",\"quantcast\",\"scribd\"],\"articleSection\":[\"SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?p=97976\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?p=97976\",\"name\":\"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd - Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-15T13:32:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-12T13:47:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/335c6264135fc4905e6428ffff5e1b2e\"},\"description\":\"Internet Marketer\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?p=97976#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?p=97976\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?p=97976#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/335c6264135fc4905e6428ffff5e1b2e\",\"name\":\"Patrick Phillips\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/65c1d73f933d943c81a17eb0349f544abf26059d1933c5733d869f2d27a05f77?s=96&d=wavatar&r=x\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/65c1d73f933d943c81a17eb0349f544abf26059d1933c5733d869f2d27a05f77?s=96&d=wavatar&r=x\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/65c1d73f933d943c81a17eb0349f544abf26059d1933c5733d869f2d27a05f77?s=96&d=wavatar&r=x\",\"caption\":\"Patrick Phillips\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ryanunderdown.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd - Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer","description":"Internet Marketer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd - Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer","og_description":"Internet Marketer","og_url":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976","og_site_name":"Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer","article_published_time":"2012-12-15T13:32:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-12T13:47:48+00:00","author":"Patrick Phillips","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Patrick Phillips"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976"},"author":{"name":"Patrick Phillips","@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/#\/schema\/person\/335c6264135fc4905e6428ffff5e1b2e"},"headline":"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd","datePublished":"2012-12-15T13:32:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-12T13:47:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976"},"wordCount":611,"keywords":["docstoc","quantcast","scribd"],"articleSection":["SEO"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976","url":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976","name":"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd - Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-15T13:32:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-12T13:47:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/#\/schema\/person\/335c6264135fc4905e6428ffff5e1b2e"},"description":"Internet Marketer","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?p=97976#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Page Load Testing: Embedding With DocStoc and Scribd"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/","name":"Ryan Underdown | Internet Marketer","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/#\/schema\/person\/335c6264135fc4905e6428ffff5e1b2e","name":"Patrick Phillips","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/65c1d73f933d943c81a17eb0349f544abf26059d1933c5733d869f2d27a05f77?s=96&d=wavatar&r=x","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/65c1d73f933d943c81a17eb0349f544abf26059d1933c5733d869f2d27a05f77?s=96&d=wavatar&r=x","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/65c1d73f933d943c81a17eb0349f544abf26059d1933c5733d869f2d27a05f77?s=96&d=wavatar&r=x","caption":"Patrick Phillips"},"url":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97976"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97980,"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97976\/revisions\/97980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryanunderdown.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}