The loading speed of a site is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO). It significantly influences user experience, engagement, conversion rates, and ultimately, a site’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
A user’s first interaction with a website is its speed, and a slow speed can negatively affect user satisfaction and engagement. According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, even a one-second delay in webpage load time leads to 11% fewer page views, a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction, and a 7% loss in conversions.
Google, one of the world’s leading search engines, emphasizes the significance of site speed as one of the many factors used by its algorithm to rank pages. As stated by Google itself, “A fast site helps people find what they’re looking for faster and delivers a positive user experience.”
Slow web page speed also impacts how an engine indexes your site. Hence, if your pages are slow, you might experience limited crawl by search engine spiders, affecting how many pages are indexed. Slow websites, therefore, decrease the chances of ranking in Google.
Apart from that, Google has set page speed as an official ranking factor for mobile searches, known as the “Speed Update,” which came into effect in July 2018. According to Google’s Webmaster Central Blog, “The ‘Speed Update,’ as we’re calling it, will only affect pages that deliver the slowest experience to users and will only affect a small percentage of queries.”
Page speed can also influence your site’s bounce rate. A study by Pingdom, specializing in website performance monitoring, shows that the bounce rate increases to 38% by the time a website hits five seconds of loading time. With a high bounce rate, your website’s dwell time decreases, making it less favorable to Google’s ranking.
Additionally, slow loading speed can lead to a poor mobile user experience. Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, the performance of mobile pages can significantly impact your rankings. Mobile pages optimized for speed can lead to increased customer engagement and conversions.
In conclusion, loading speed is a prominent player in the game of SEO and a slow website stands to miss numerous opportunities. Your website’s speed improves the overall user experience, reduces bounce rates, increases engagement and conversions, and significantly impacts your SEO rankings positively.
Sources:
1. Google Webmaster Central Blog – Using Page Speed in Mobile Search Ranking
2. Aberdeen Group – The Performance of Web Applications: Customers are Won or Lost in One Second.
3. CNBC – Google’s Speed Update Now Applies for All Users.
4. Pingdom – Global Website Performance Overview Report 2017.
