We’ve all had unpleasant situations when we open a website, and it drives us crazy with the plodding loading speed. However, if you’re on the other side – the business one, we believe you don’t want to be in this position.
But does the speed of your website affect how many visitors you get? How much time do they spend on your site? The answer is yes – page speed has a direct impact on how successful your website is.
In this article, we will explore what page load speed is, what can cause it to be slow, and why you should care about it if you want to increase your website’s traffic.
What Is Page Speed?
Page speed is the amount of time it takes for a website to load and display all of its content to a user. This time is measured in milliseconds. It takes into account the time it takes to load the HTML document as well as the time it takes for all of the page’s elements, such as photos, videos, and other resources, to load completely.
A quicker page speed indicates that a website is able to load and display its material more rapidly, which results in a more positive experience for site visitors. If you have a WordPress website, you can measure its speed.
A slow page speed can negatively affect a website’s traffic by causing users to browse away from the site, lowering the website’s search engine ranking, providing a poor user experience, and reducing website traffic.
Why Is Page Speed So Crucial for Your Website’s Success?
If page load speed doesn’t matter, we wouldn’t write this blog post. And nobody would care. However, this isn’t the case. Over the last few years, page speed has become the most vital SEO ranking factor. Let’s see why.
Better User Experience
A quick loading time is crucial to keeping users happy. Users will feel frustrated and may abandon the site if they are forced to wait too long for content to load. One way to avoid this from happening is to ensure that your page loads quickly. This leads to better user experience (UX).
Conversion rates can be increased thanks to a faster page load time since users are more inclined to remain on the site and engage with it.
And, as we’ll see below, if Google wants your user to have a better experience visiting your web page, you better act now.
It’s a Make or Break for SEO (Google Confirms It)
When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and rankings, page speed is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most crucial factors. A faster page speed can help increase the visibility of a website in search results, which can lead to greater business visitors and improved visibility.
Since Google has indicated that the speed of a page is one of the factors they consider when deciding the ranking of a website, it is essential to ensure that your pages load as quickly as they possibly can.
Google is so keen on improving the user experience for its users that they have developed a unique tool called PageSpeed Insights, which can help you identify issues.
Mobile Optimization
The number of mobile users is increasing every day, which means that page speed is becoming even more important. A slow page speed can lead to a poor user experience, which can negatively impact a website’s mobile search rankings. Mobile optimization is therefore essential in order to provide a good user experience on mobile devices.
This includes optimizing the website for a mobile-first experience, which means that the website should be designed for mobile devices first and foremost. Page speed is just one aspect of mobile optimization, but it is an important one nonetheless.
Interesting fact: Many people pay attention to desktop performance. However, Google pays bigger attention than ever to page speed on mobile devices, as it’s up to four times slower than the desktop version.
Cost Efficiency
If pages load more quickly, there is a better chance that financial savings can be made as a result of the lower demand that is placed on the server. After that, this can be put to use either to conserve money or to clear space for next initiatives.
There are financial benefits associated with faster page loads, in addition to favorable effects on the user experience.
Brand Reputation
When a website takes too long to load, potential customers may form negative impressions of the business or brand. Clients who are made to wait too long for a page to load may lose faith in the business and voice their displeasure in negative reviews.
A negative impact on the business is possible. Make sure the pages load as quickly and efficiently as possible if you value your relationship with your customers.
To What Extent Is Page Speed Related to SEO?
We’ve already mentioned that page load speed plays a role. But how much exactly?
The truth is, page speed is related to SEO to a significant extent. Search engines like Google use page speed as a ranking factor for determining a website’s search engine ranking. A faster page speed can help improve a website’s visibility in search results, which can lead to more traffic and better visibility for a business.
Google uses a metric called the “Google Page Speed Index” which measure the speed of a website across different devices, this score is one of the factors that determine a website’s ranking in search results. Additionally, Google also use metrics like time to first byte, time to first paint and time to interactive to measure the page speed, these metrics are also taken into account when determining a website’s search engine ranking.
Moreover, page speed is also an important factor for mobile optimization, as mobile users expect fast loading pages, and Google uses a mobile-first approach to indexing, which means that page speed is even more important for mobile devices.
So, yes, page speed plays indeed a critical role in SEO, as it directly impacts a website’s search engine ranking, visibility, and mobile optimization which ultimately can lead to more traffic and better visibility for a business.
How to Improve Page Load Speed?
If you own a WordPress website, we’ve already told you 5 benefits of having Seravo as your main partner. But let’s dig in deeper and see which.
Optimize Images
Optimizing images is an important step in improving page load speed. There are several ways to optimize images, including:
- Compression: Compressing images can greatly reduce their file size without sacrificing quality. There are a variety of tools available, both online and offline, that can be used to compress images.
- File format: Different image file formats have different compression algorithms and capabilities. For example, JPEGs are great for photographs and images with lots of colors, while PNGs are better for images with fewer colors, such as logos and icons.
- Proper Sizing: Make sure to use the correct size of images that fit the intended spot on the website, this will avoid loading large images which will slow down the page.
- Lazy Loading: Lazy loading is a technique where images are only loaded as they come into view, this can greatly reduce the number of resources that need to be loaded initially, improving page load speed.
Seravo has a built-in image optimization plugin that can help you optimize your images without using 3rd party tools.
Minimize HTTP Requests
Combining files is one of the most effective ways to minimize HTTP requests and improve page load speed. By combining multiple scripts and stylesheets into a single file, you can reduce the number of HTTP requests required to load a page. This can be done using tools like Grunt, Gulp, or Webpack.
Another effective way to minimize HTTP requests is through the use of image sprites. Image sprites combine multiple images into a single image file, reducing the number of HTTP requests required to load the images.
Removing unnecessary elements from a page is also an important step in minimizing HTTP requests. This includes elements such as scripts, stylesheets, and images that are not essential for the page’s functionality. By removing these elements, you can reduce the number of HTTP requests required to load a page.
Another way to minimize HTTP requests is to use CSS instead of images to create design elements. By using CSS to create buttons, backgrounds, and other design elements, you can reduce the number of HTTP requests required to load the page.
Reduce Redirects
Reducing redirects is important for several reasons, one of the most significant being page load speed. Every time a user requests a page, their browser needs to follow the redirect to the final destination. This process takes time, and the more redirects there are, the longer the page will take to load.
It can be frustrating for users and can lead to a higher bounce rate, which means users leaving the site quickly. Additionally, each redirect also increases the likelihood of a user encountering an error or a broken link, which can also lead to a poor user experience. By reducing the number of redirects, you can improve the page load speed and overall user experience of your website.
If you frequently transfer data between a staging and the production environment, you should use relative URLs whenever possible. The URLs should include the SEO keywords for pages, blog posts, etc. Also, don’t forget to use shorter URL addresses and avoid using too many redirects in a chain.
Use a High-Quality Web Hosting
Using a reliable web host is an excellent strategy to boost website loading times. Page load times can be drastically cut with the help of a reputable web host’s lightning-fast, web-performance-optimized servers.
Caching and compression are two further performance optimization functions that can be provided by a reputable web host to reduce page load times. Your website’s ability to attract visitors and maintain their interest can be enhanced by utilizing a reliable web host to guarantee a fast loading time and smooth operation.
If you’re using WordPress as your CMS, you may be astonished by Seravo’s WordPress web hosting, as it’s specifically optimized for the most popular CMS.
Pay Attention to Caching
Web pages can be loaded more quickly through a process called caching, which involves storing a copy of the page’s content on the user’s computer or a server. Caching allows for much faster page loads by using a previously saved copy of the page rather than the original.
There are a number of techniques to employ caching, including in-browser caching and on-server caching.
To get most out of caching on your site, take care of the caching implementation. This involves being mindful about what is being cached and for how long, as well as ensuring that the cache expiration settings are optimized.
Websites that have been cache-optimized, through measures like code minification and picture compression, benefit from smaller cached files and faster page loads. You may boost your website’s speed and performance by focusing on caching, which in turn can help you attract more visitors and keep them engaged.
One of the best things about Seravo is that our WordPress hosting comes with server-side caching working on many levels, so we can reduce a lot of the burden that you would otherwise have to deal by yourself.
Conclusion
In conclusion, page speed is a measure of how quickly a web page loads and is an important factor that can affect a website’s traffic. A faster page speed can result in a better user experience, leading to more users staying on the site and engaging with its content. This can ultimately result in more traffic and engagement.
However, there are a lot of factors that might effect page load times, including web hosting quality, caching, and website optimization. All of them must be considered and best practices used in order to improve website page performance and load times.
Seravo’s WordPress hosting, which provides fast servers, optimization tools, and caching options, is an excellent way to accomplish this and enhance the traffic to your website.