So what exactly is page speed and what does it have to do with my site?
Time-to-first-byte is how long it takes a browser to receive the first piece of site information (code) from the server.
Page load time is the time that’s required for a page to load fully. That includes pictures, content, buttons, etc.
How does page speed impact user experience?
Have you ever found yourself wishing a page would load slowly? Of course not. According to Moz, pages’ long load times have higher bounce rates and lower average time spent on the page. When a webpage/website takes longer than 2 seconds to load, visitors are already thinking about leaving your site. Today, people are busier than ever and lack patience when searching & shopping.
Faster page speeds = better user experience. The quicker a page loads, the likeliness the visitor will stay increases. Decreasing your bounce rate increases your conversions.
What does the data say about webpage load times and the impact on sales?
Faster is always better.
Akamai’s Online Retail Performance Report reviewed data from approximately 10 billion users visits to top online retailers for a month and found:
- 100-millisecond delay in load time can have an impact on conversion rates by 7%
- Two-second delay in site load time increases a bounce rate by 103%
- (53%) of mobile visitors will leave a page if it were to take longer than three seconds to load
Slow loading times have an abrupt increase in bounce rates and a steep decrease in conversions. To decrease bounce rates and increase conversion rates, a page should load in three seconds or less (2 seconds, according to Google).
Slow page loads can lead to shopping carts being abandoned. Once someone leaves their cart, the chance they’ll purchase from you is essentially non-existent unless you happen to have extent-intent popups in place or an innovative remarketing strategy.
Does speed also affect SEO?
Yes, Page speed is an extensive search rank factor. According to Google:
“Slow is always bad, especially in mobile. It hurts performance regarding site abandonment, bounce rates, conversation rates, & customer retention. It also slows the Google crawler, hurting crawl efficiency and leading to fewer pages being indexed. That’s terrible for the site owner and consumers.”
How can you measure your page speed?
Google’s PageSpeed Insights accesses page speed.
This tool will provide you with your page score and additional information specific to your page, including diagnostics and opportunities to resolve some issues your page may have. You will be informed of what is impacting your page performance and how to fix it.
So if my page speed is fast, I’ll have high conversions, right?
No, not exactly. Increasing your page speed will help, but there is a lot more at play here.
In addition to having fast page loads, you must have desirable products, a smooth user experience, and a payment processing system to ensure that everyone with the intent to purchase, will purchase.
What else should you know about selling online?
Assuming you have a fantastic product, you’ve used PageSpeed Insights to optimize your website pages. What’s next? It would be best to have two things: a good marketing plan and a reliable eCommerce platform.
At SiteSpeed our primary focus is to make your site blazing fast! Have a look at our packages to determine which is best for you.
