Page speed has become a critical ingredient for website growth and success in this era of lightning-fast internet and increasing user expectations for ease of use. As such, it should be a priority for any website owner who hopes to cultivate their brand and implement highly-effective on-page SEO strategies.
The thing is; a lot of websites and e-commerce sites seem to be focusing more on how their website looks as compared to how fast their pages load. And while aesthetics is important too, nearly 70% of consumers say it’s page speed that significantly impacts their purchasing decisions when shopping online.
Here are the top reasons why you should boost your page speed.
If you’re in a rush at the moment, don’t sweat it! You can always pin this post and come back to it later.
What is Page Speed?
Page speed refers to the amount of time it takes for a browser to receive the first byte of information from a server. There are many factors that affect a website’s page speed, including your website’s server, page file size, image compression, etc.
Basically, every decision you make regarding your website affects page speed and, ultimately, impacts user experience.
Page Speed and SEO
A website that is optimized for speed does not only benefit user experience but search engine rankings as well.
Page speed may have begun as a metric for determining how quickly users can access the content they requested, but over the years, it has become an important ranking factor for search engines – and its influence only keeps growing.
When Google rolled its page experience update in the summer of 2021, page load speed was included as one of the Core Web Vitals used to determine page experience score, which can affect your overall search engine rankings. Done right, optimizing your page speed can help you get ahead of the competition.
More Reasons Why Page Speed Matters
Every second counts as far as page load speeds are concerned. Research shows that as a page’s load time goes from one to three seconds, the probability of a bounce (user leaving your site almost immediately) increases to 32% and grows higher with every passing second.
It’s easy to see why fast load page time is critical to low bounce rates and better visitor engagement. Faster pages are more efficient and provide a better on-page experience. Whereas, a slow-loading website makes it difficult to maintain user interest, which in turn may lead to lower conversion rates.
Beyond (but still in relation to) user experience, page speed matters because it can influence brand image. A business with a website that takes forever to load can look unprofessional and unreliable to consumers.
Check out the infographic below for more reasons to boost your page speed.
Improving Page Load Speed
Optimizing page speed is necessary in running a successful website. But before you can start working on improving your page load time, you must find out how your pages are currently performing by getting accurate page speed insights and running a speed test. As soon as you know what you’re dealing with, you can start making improvements.
There’s a long list of things you can do to improve website speed and performance. You can start by:
- Optimizing your site’s code
- Moving to a faster server
- Optimizing images, videos, contents
- Enabling compression
Page speed optimization is critical regardless of whether you’re utilizing your website as a sales funnel, a virtual storefront, or simply to connect and engage with customers. Fast loading pages can drive customer engagement and encourage brand loyalty, resulting in better site traffic and conversion rates.
This is a guest post by Shawn Byrne.
Shawn Byrne is the founder and CEO of SEOPhoenix.net. Shawn started his career in I.T. troubleshooting workstations, servers, and networks; then went on to doing SEO as a side project and quickly found success in ranking websites. It was easy for him to grasp not only the algorithms but also the technical side which most SEO strategists miss and neglect because of its complexities. SEO Phoenix then grew based on its own rankings and referrals.
Related post to top reasons to boost your page speed
- How to drive organic Traffic to Your Blog By Targeting Long-tail Keywords
- How to Write SEO-Friendly Content on Your Blog: 8 Smart Tips for Optimizing Your Posts
- Off-page SEO and Backlinking (Expert Interview)
- 7 Smart Tips to Drive Traffic to Your Blog
- How to Start a Blog with BlueHost in Less than 10 Minutes
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2 thoughts on “Top Reasons Why You Should Boost Your Page Speed [Infographic]”
Moving your blog to a faster server does wonders for page speed, Shawn. I went with a VPS a few years ago and never looked back.
Ryan
I’ve been looking into how to increase my website speed, so thanks a lot for this blog post Shawn. Is it possible to make the infographic open in a new tab? When I try to zoom in on my tablet it loses focus and can’t be read.
Greetings, Anike