[Free Takeaways Inside
– 35 Factors to Strengthen Core Web
Vitals Score and 46-Point Checklist to Increase Page
Load Speed]
If a user lands on a page in your website only to find
themselves waiting more than a few seconds for your page to load, they are
likely to leave your page and that is likely to cost you a conversion.
The higher your page
loading speed, the lower your conversion rates.
Source – VWO
It is obvious that your website’s speed and performance have a
direct correlation with revenue impact.
And, that’s not the only impact – your website speed will also
impact your search rankings significantly. Since Google’s newest algorithm update
considers page speed metrics as one of the key criteria for mobile search rankings,
if your website is not up to speed, your page may go down in search results.
Isn’t it unfortunate to lose search rankings due to something
that you can optimize and improve?
Why is
it Important to Improve Page Speed?
Besides affecting your search rankings, page speed can make or
break the user experience of your website. Let’s get into more benefits of
improving page speed:
- Improved Page Speed, Improved User
Experience
Every second counts. 47%
of consumers expect a website to load in no more than two seconds. With
every second afterward, it damages user experience and viewers often bounce to
find another business with a better user experience.
The core web vitals – including LCP, CLS and FID are important
metrics of page speed that defines the overall user experience of a page:
- LCP or Large
Contentful Paint is the time it takes for the largest piece of information
in a page to load
- CLS or
Cumulative Layout Shift is a measure of how different page elements render
on your screen
- FID or First
Input Delay measures site response time when a user makes the first
interaction with the page
Core web vitals along with other important user experience metrics
are the key factors that are included in Google mobile search ranking
algorithms. Not only does improving these factors help you rank higher, but it
also improves the overall user experience.
Download a Free Checklist for Strengthening
Core Web Vitals and Increasing Page Speed
- Enhance Your Conversion Rate
Every
100-millisecond delay in website load time can hurt conversion rates by 7% and
eventually a drop in sales by 6%.If you’re an
e-commerce site making $10,000 a day, a one-second page delay could cost you
$2.5 million per year. Thus, if your page loads quickly, users are happy to stick
around and willing to turn into customers.
- 3. Reduce
Bounce Rate
As the page load time
increases by every millisecond, the bounce rate increases. Following shows the
mobile page load industry benchmarks by Google:
How to
Speed Up Your Website?
Website speed depends on a whole lot of factors such as
hardware, Content Management System, page sizes, image sizes, scripts sizes,
interactivity components, server calls made and more.
Solving it by subscribing to CDN or content distribution network
or making one-off technical changes may not keep your website speed fast
forever.
Website
optimization ought to be an ongoing process and you need to ensure that the
speed is not affected every time you make a change in your webpages. Here are a few steps
you can take to speed up your website:
- Page Speed Analytics – Get a
baseline analysis using a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights and act on
the recommendations of the list of opportunities and diagnostics provided
by the tool to speed up your page load times.
- Limit Redirects – Reduce
unnecessary redirects wherever you can.
- Compress and Optimize Images - Consider
compressing large-size images that may take too much time to load.
- Minify Your Site’s Code – Make your
code readable and easy so that the server can parse through it quickly
when it tries to load a page.
- Utilize Caching – Using
caching you can reduce load time so that the server saves copies of the
pages.
- Choose the Right Web Host – Select the
right provider that would handle as much traffic according to the size of
the site and budget.
- Reducing Apps, Widgets and Other Page
Elements
– Too many page elements can slow down your site; reduce usage or get them
to lazy load.
Click
here to
view a comprehensive 46-point list of actionable recommendations to improve
your website speed.
A fast page load time has always been vital for a smooth user
experience. Since it’s also one of Google’s key components in its mobile search
ranking algorithm, page speed is now
important more than ever.
Therefore, ensure that you improve your page speed to prevent
users from clicking away and search engine algorithms from tanking your reach.
Page speed optimization ought to an ongoing exercise in your online presence management strategy.
Have you analyzed
your page speed and user experience factors? What are some of the common causes
that deter your site’s speed and usability? Drop your
comments below or share it with us at marketingfolks@xerago.com.
