Faster Website, Better SEO – Get users and rank higher in searches
4 min read
The speed of a website is everything! This is one of the most critical factors affecting user experience. A website that loads quickly offers a positive experience to users, keeps them there longer and increases the chances of conversions.
On the other hand, a slow website causes dissatisfaction among users, many of whom will choose to close it without proceeding to a purchase or further navigation.
Of course, website speed is not only taken into account by users, but also by search engines, such as Google, thus being a key element of SEO.
Why is speed so important for SEO?
Search engines have as a ranking factor the speed of a website, especially when the search is done from a mobile. Thus, a website that is responsive and loads quickly becomes more “loved” by search engines and is placed higher in the search results (SERP).
By helping your website appear organically higher in search engines, it also lowers your advertising costs, saving you money in the long run. Also SEO friendly websites have the potential to rank higher in search engine results and drive more traffic.
The Importance of Speed in User Experience (UX)
The speed of the website plays a decisive role in how far the user will navigate on our website, how long he will sit and whether he will eventually proceed with a purchase, or whether any conversion will be achieved.
Of great interest is the fact that according to research, the average internet user perceives loading times to be 15% slower than they actually are. Later, when recalling his experience, he recalls that load times are 35% slower, and the average person estimates that they spend 9 minutes a day waiting for slow websites. This translates to two full days each year.
Therefore, as for all of us, in the fast-paced everyday life where time is money, the speed of our website is not only about how friendly we are to search engines, but also to the users themselves.
How do we measure the speed of websites on desktop and mobile?
Measuring the speed of a web page is done through tools that evaluate loading time and responsiveness on different devices. One of the most popular tools is Google PageSpeed Insights, which provides separate analyzes for desktop and mobile devices, scoring the website and suggesting improvements. Other options include GTmetrix and WebPageTest, which offer detailed analysis of load speed, response time, and image optimization. On mobile devices, speed is more affected by factors such as screen resolution and network, making improvements even more important to ensure a positive user experience across all platforms.
When testing the speed of a website the following website performance metrics should be considered.
Total Load Time
Ideally, the page should fully load in 2-3 seconds. Research shows that users tend to abandon a web page if it is delayed for more than 3 seconds.
First Contentful Paint (FCP)
This is the time it takes for the first visible element of the page to appear. FCP should be under 1.8 seconds for a good user experience.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
The time it takes to display the largest visible element (usually an image or large text) should be under 2.5 seconds.
Time to Interactive (TTI)
The time it takes for the page to be fully functional and interactive should be under 5 seconds.
Why might a website be slow?
Many factors can affect the speed of a website. Some of them are high-resolution images and non-optimized content, as well as external scripts, such as ads or analytics, and numerous plugins on CMS platforms. Through tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix and WebPageTest it is possible to identify the problems that affect the fast speed.
How to improve website speed?
In order to improve the speed of a website, i.e. to perform speed optimization, it is necessary to make some changes.
Image Compression and Optimization
Use image compression tools such as TinyPNG or JPEG Optimizer to reduce the size of images without losing their quality. Choose your images to be in WebP format which is lighter and more search engine friendly.
Reduce the size of HTML, CSS, JS files
Reducing the size of HTML, CSS and JavaScript files (also known as minification) is an important optimization technique that helps make a web page load faster. You can reduce the size of these files by removing whitespace, newlines, and comments that make the code more readable for the programmer but add unnecessary weight. Removing them helps reduce file size.
You can also merge multiple CSS or JavaScript files into a single file to reduce the number of requests to the server, improving loading speed.
There are tools and plugins that automate the minification process, such as CSSNano and CleanCSS, for CSS and UglifyJS, for JavaScript, for your convenience.
