So, your business's website has been up for some time now, but you have yet to see the increase in online visibility, leads, and conversions you thought it would deliver. There are several reasons your website may not perform as expected, with one of the most crucial factors also being among the most overlooked—website page speed.
In this article, you will learn why loading speed should be a priority in a properly optimized web page, as well as its influence on user experience (UX) and your website's search engine optimization (SEO) performance.
The importance of website page speed
Page speed refers to how long your site's web page fully loads its contents, including text, media, and interactive elements like forms and animations. The faster your pages load, the better—and there are several reasons for that:
Speed affects site visitors' experience
You know what they say, "Customer is king." While you may not always agree with that adage, it's true that placing your target audience's experience at the forefront when designing your website can largely contribute to its success. And if there's anything many people find frustrating, it's waiting too long and wasting their time.
In fact, fast user experience is so significant that more than half of mobile users will abandon a site that takes more than three seconds to finish loading. Your target audience won't wait for your site to load when they can simply go to your competitors and get the information they need sooner.
Worse still, you know how they say "first impressions last?" As it turns out, 88% of frustrated visitors do not return after leaving a slow website. You have one chance to capture their attention and make them want to stay, and your website's page speed can determine whether they do just that.
Speed can make conversions happen
Converting website traffic into sales is a delicate process that usually involves building trust, providing value, and making it easy for prospects to purchase. But how can you nurture and convert leads when they've already left because your website is too slow?
But supposing visitors stay, here's a question: are they more likely to buy from a business that gives them a smooth and efficient experience or one that frustrates them? Visitors have a goal when they go to your site—the faster your site enables them to accomplish that objective, the happier they will likely be.
Happy people are more likely to trust you and buy your products. Your conversion rates can drop the longer potential customers wait—at a rate of 7% for every second of delay. That figure may not sound like much, but over time, it means you're losing out on a lot of potential customers and revenue.
Speed directly impacts SEO performance
Search engines like Google consider page loading speed a key factor when ranking websites. The faster your pages load, the higher the ranking tends to be and the more visible they are on the search results. This is because search engines aim to provide users with the most excellent results for their queries, and UX is considered an indicator of quality.
To better explain the impact of website page speed on SEO performance, here are some metrics you need to know:
Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can signal a poor user experience, causing search engines to rank your site lower. If visitors immediately leave because your website is low, it can raise your site's bounce rate.
Time on page measures the average time a visitor spends on your website before leaving. Fast user experience can keep visitors on your site longer, increasing the time on page and indicating to search engines that your content is worth reading. Slow pages can lead users to leave quickly, resulting in a shorter average time on page and potentially affecting rankings.
Engagement rates refer to how much visitors interact with your site, such as clicking links, filling out forms, or watching videos. If your site takes too long to load, visitors are less likely to engage with it, negatively impacting engagement rates and potentially affecting your SEO performance.
Discussions on page speed and SEO performance cannot be complete without touching on mobile-friendliness. Thanks to the growing number of people using mobile devices to surf the Internet, search engines are increasing the importance of mobile-friendly sites in their rankings.
This means having fast and optimized web pages on mobile devices will significantly impact your site's visibility and search engine ranking.
Steps to improve website page speed
Improving page speed is one of the key concerns in technical SEO. To start, use web speed test tools like PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix to determine your site's current speed and identify areas for improvement. You can then follow these tips to enhance your site's loading time.
Optimize images. Images make your site look good, but they can also slow it down if they are too large. Compress images to reduce their file size without compromising their quality. You can also use quick-loading formats like WebP instead of JPEG or PNG.
Leverage browser caching. Configure your servers to save static assets like images and CSS files on users' browsers. This ensures these assets do not need to be reloaded whenever users return to your site, reducing pages' loading times.
Minify your code. Unnecessary characters, spaces, and comments on your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript codes can affect your site's speed. Minify by removing these elements to make your pages load faster.
Optimize page fonts. Modern formats like WOFF and WOFF2 offer better compression, resulting in faster load times. You can also use font-display: swap to display text while the desired font loads.
Use lazy loading. Instead of loading all the elements in your web page in one go, you can implement lazy loading. This feature allows the elements to load as users scroll down, improving your page's initial loading speed.
Clean up plugins. Site plugins can add functionality, but too many of them can slow down your website. Only keep the necessary plugins and regularly update them to ensure they are optimized for speed.
Monitor your site regularly. To ensure your site's speed remains optimal, regularly monitor and analyze it using web speed test tools. This will help you identify any issues and address them as promptly as possible.
Your website's page loading speed directly impacts user experience, conversions, and SEO performance, so you should never overlook it as you create and update your site. In the highly crowded Internet landscape, maximizing it could be the advantage you need to stand out from your competitors.
Conversely, enhancing page speeds requires a high level of technical expertise. Instead of doing it yourself, consider hiring a professional technical SEO agency. Such a company has SEO experts who can help you fix your site and keep it optimized for speed, UX, and conversions.
Don't let technical issues hold back your website and business. Maximize your online presence by partnering with SEO professionals today!
