Imagine opening a site and waiting for it to load; how long would you wait for that site to open before you switch to the next in line? I guess not more than 5 seconds. It means the loading speed is the factor that retains the visitors.
Stats suggest that the bounce rate will increase by 50% if the load time exceeds 2 seconds. So, if your webpage takes too much time to load, Google will lower your ranking, as it would not like to present a platform that is too slow to its visitors. This shows how important the loading speed of a page is if you want to attract and retain traffic to your platform and appear in the top positions of SERPs.
What is a Page Speed?
Technically, it can be defined as the time a page takes to display its content. This Speed is measured and reported separately for mobile and desktop.
Do you usually wait for the whole site to load or start scrolling as soon as content appears? So, this question gives us two other terms that are synonyms for page speed.
Time to Interactive (TTI)
It is the time taken by the website to load its interactive elements. This factor gives you an idea of the effectiveness of your coding. A better code will reduce the TTI.
Time to the First Byte (TTFB)
The time taken by a page to load the first byte. This time is directly related to the performance of your server.
What Google Says about Page Speed
Google keeps providing updates on its ranking factors. Following is the track of these updates regarding the page speed.
- In April 2010, Google announced its algorithm would incorporate the site speed in ranking search engine results pages.
- In July 2018, they also started considering mobile page speed. So, mobile page speed will be considered separately from desktop speed.
- In April 2023, Google emphasized that loading speed is vital for good page experience signals.
Google has always paid high attention to content and its relevancy to the intent. High relevancy with a slightly slower speed may appear above the irrelevant high-speed page. It does not mean that Google does not value the page speed. As mentioned above, page speed is part of the user experience and a good user experience will also boost your ranking.
Read | How Web Design Affects SEO
Why Load Speed is important in SEO
Page speed is a ranking factor that Google gives a very high value. Google does not want to present a slow website with a bad user experience.
So, the lower the load time, the higher the retention time of visitors and traffic, and higher traffic will enhance the user experience. A good user experience will give you a high ranking in the SERPs.
This high ranking earns you more traffic and a high conversion rate, boosting your business. So, Load speed is very important, and the developer should critically work on it and keep checking it from Time to Time for better results.
We often start reading a page or scrolling it up and down even if it is not fully open. So, apart from the loading time defined above, some other factors give the idea of loading a page.
What is a Good Average Speed?
It is not easy to give a single digital for the loading speed. Loading speed is dependent on many factors and geolocation is one of them. A 2-second loading time might be good for Japan, but in Africa, with its poor internet facilities, 5 to 10 seconds might also be good.
If you are considering developed countries, anything less than two is considered good. This time will reduce further with the advancement in the algorithm and server facilities.
Site Speed Vs. Page Speed
Site speed is the average time taken by the sample pages of a website and the page speed is the loading time of a single page. For example, a page containing many photos and videos will take longer than a page with fewer photos and videos. So, a site speed can be different from a page speed.
How to check the Page Speed
Many tools can be used to calculate the loading speed; three commonly used tools are mentioned below.
Lighthouse: It is a free, open-source tool developed by Google that can be used to determine page speed. It also gives you a detailed report of your page performance. This tool is very handy in auditing your page.
DevTools: This tool is also developed by Google, which helps you diagnose problems on your site along with page speed.
Google PageSpeed Insights. These tools can also be used to find the page speed and your website performance.
How can Page Speed be increased?
Many factors can hinder the load speed. Carefully and technically tackling these factors increases page speed and enhances indexing. Some of these factors are mentioned below, which, if optimized, can boost your page speed and ranking in the SERPs.
Overhead Code
Different hosting services use different overhead codes, which may bloat that would slow down the loading. This is a common issue in off-the-shelf content management systems like WordPress and Shopify, as they do not offer full control and you might have to drag many plugins and widgets that might not be your requirement.
Google crawls your page and its contents, including your code and Javascript. More files mean more time Google will spend crawling and indexing. This will lower your ranking.
Similarly, if it is taking too long for Google bots to crawl, then there are chances that they might skip some of the pages, which means some of your pages might not be indexed. So, try to use the minimized code for a quick response.
Shave off Javascript
Javascript is quite commonly used in coding, along with HTML and CSS. Javascript usually generates the animations and makes the site more dynamic.
Although these flashy animations look great, they also make the website heavy. So, trying to shave off as many bits as possible by optimizing such animations. This would also increase the website vitals, like the FID score.
Visuals
Images and videos are heavy, especially in the present era, where people have HD cameras in their smartphones; it is very hard to reduce the megapixels, as it affects the picture and video quality.
You might have often experienced some sites slowing down due to their header image. So, a heavy header image badly affects your page speed and lowers your LCP score on the web.
So, try to optimize these images and videos. Try to use them where they are relevant and meaningful. Try to reduce their sizes as well, without compromising on the quality. The picture below is from the landing page of BBC, which is full of pictures, but it has been optimized to perfection that it opens in the blink of an eye.
Server Speed
The hosting server’s performance is critical in determining the page load speed. The server’s configuration, uptime, geolocation, and technical specifications influence server speed parameters.
Select a good and reliable hosting server with the latest machines and located near your target audience. Try to avoid shared servers, as it will also reduce the page speed. A server far away from your location can reduce the loading speed.
Browser Caching
Implementing the cashing on your website is best, as it will save the web page’s static content in the browser cache for future use. This saving will help you to load the page quickly when you look for the site next time.
This is hugely beneficial for Speeding up the loading. WordPress offers a plugin that implements the caching in your browser.
Website Theme
Vibrant color, flashy animations, and mesmerizing transitions might make your theme captivating, but they will also make it heavy.
So, try to incorporate a theme that serves your purpose proficiently and looks awesome. Anything you add to enhance your theme will give you extra bytes, increasing your load speed. So, optimize that suite best for your business without compromising page load speed.
Redirect
Websites commonly use redirects to replace broken links, old pages or old content. A visitor might hardly notice the redirect, but it could slow down the load speed if you use redirect chains. So, try to optimize the redirect to increase the Speed.
Read | How to Find a Sitemap of a Website
Mobile Page Load Speed
Mobile friendliness is another factor that affects your ranking; as a matter of fact, more than 50% of the traffic on a website comes from a smartphone. So check the load speed of your website on mobiles and reduce it for better performance.
Plugins and Widgets
Plugins and widgets are part of the CMS, especially WordPress. These plugins and widgets are added to enhance the functionality of your website, but at the same time, they are also heavy.
So, keep only those plugins and widgets required in the optimized version. Do not just force these here and there, as each of them will add an extra bit of coding and every addition of code will reduce your load speed.
Implement Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A content delivery network uses an interconnected network of servers at different geographical locations. If your server is in London, someone accessing your site from Surrey will get more load speed than the one from New York City.
So CDN keeps your website’s static content on different servers at different geolocations around the globe to increase load speed.
Read | How does Blogger Outreach Link Building Work
Conclusion
Page speed is not only crucial for your ranking but also for your business. A page loading too much time can irritate and annoy visitors. So, one needs to work on the page speed without compromising on the other factors. Following are the key takeaways in enhancing the page speed.
- Keep your code as minimal as possible, as long code takes time to crawl and index, which Google does not like.
- Try to locate your server near your intended audience’s geolocation.
- If you’re targeting an international audience spanning different regions, use the CDN for quick and better response.
- Use your website’s captivating but light theme, as flashy and colorful themes are heavy to load.
- Try to use minimal redirects to avoid delay in loading.
- Try to get the latest machine for your server for better optimization.
- Use only those plugins and widgets that are required, as these plugins and widgets will make it heavy.
- Lastly, optimize your images and videos, as heavy images and lengthy videos reduce the Speed.
Try to reduce your page speed to rank higher in the SERPs. A high ranking will give a high conversion rate. So do not overlook it; work on it and optimize it.
About Dlinx Outreach
Dlinx Outreach is an SEO agency that formulates customized strategies that earn you high ratings, authority and ranking. Our agency works for on- and off-page SEO, web design, link-building, competitor analysis, page speed, and more to improve your ranking in SERPS. Our analysis teams also audit your website for better optimization and utilization.
Furthermore, our team is well-versed in the recent trends and SEO tools that could help you earn unbeatable publicity, visibility, traffic, popularity, and long-term business. Feel free to contact us for further information.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good average speed?
Anything less than 2 seconds is considered a good load speed in the modern world.
How to measure the page speed.
Different SEO tools offer this facility, but Google’s Lighthouse, DevTools and Page Speed Insights are good at finding the page speed.
Does Google consider page speed in its ranking?
Google gives high value to user experience, and page speed enhances the user experience; thus, a quick-loading page will have a better ranking.
How can load Speed be improved?
Load speed can be improved by reducing the code, plugins, widgets and redirects. It can also be increased by implementing CDN and a good theme. Furthermore, server speed and its location can also increase your load speed.
Does Dlinx help you increase your load speed?
Dlinx is an SEO agency that works on all parameters that could enhance your ranking, and page speed is one of them.
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