Does Google view sites without advertising as a more reliable source of information and increase the odds of a website returning in the search results?
I ask this for a few reasons.
The main reason is page load speed. My production site loads in around 6-7 seconds due to there being 3 AdSense ads on the page. My dev site, which is on the same server and is an exact clone of the main site (they share the same DB) loads in under 2 seconds and has no adverts. If I remove adverts from my main site the page load speed will drop considerably. Does Google already consider this and ignore ads?
A lot of sites are clearly money sites that are just jam packed with ads with the intention of making money. If a site has no adverts then it's most likely a site that is serving a purpose outside of making a quick dollar from someone visiting the page. Does Google see this as a pro?
Removing ads will also allow me to move the entire site to HTTPS, which will be another boost since AdSense breaks the padlock. I just want to be sure it's worth the loss of income as adsense pays my server costs.