How do you think, if you use all possible secrets of promotion, but forget to optimize the time of site loading, will your website be able to get into the TOPs of the search engines? Without the high speed of your site, all the efforts of SEO-specialists to bring it to the TOP will be in vain. Don’t you believe in the importance of this indicator? Here we will give you undeniable evidence that the page load time is one of the most important factors affecting its promotion.
Why Is Website Speed Such an Important Thing?
To begin with, the speed of your website is the first impression you ever make. Your visitors immediately make an assessment of you and your company. It’s pure psychology. We associate speed with efficiency, trust, and reliability; that is why we expect fast websites to be professional and trustworthy.
Secondly, search engines began to pay attention to this factor. And there is one simple reason for that: the slower websites fall into the top of the delivery of the particular search engine, the fewer users will use it. For you, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Google uses your website’s load speed as a factor to determine your place in search results.
Google said: “We are striving to quickly make the entire network.” They have a goal to make the world web faster, easily accessible and useful. We all have to admit that they are doing a pretty good job.
Do you have a spаrе minute? Apparently. But will you waste it to wait until the website loads? Most likely, no. We all hаte thаt. If people want something, it means they want it now. While page spееd is necessary for your SEO, it is even more іmpоrtаnt for your UX, cоnvеrsіоn and general customer satisfaction. It’s in your interests to kееp your site lоаd spееd as fast as a blink of an eye.
Тhe internet sets a high bar when it comes to site speed. Statistics show that 47% of people can’t wait more than 2 seconds and 40 % will abandon the site if it loads longer than 3 sесоnds. We demand fast loading times. People paying a visit to your website are looking for something. Give it to them as quickly as possible. That is the situation where the expression “Time is money” would be a straight hit the bulls-eye.
Obviously, we all expect the same results when we use a laptop, desktop, tablet or mobile phone. We all want responds quickly! As a proof, 85% of Internet users expect that the mobile site will be loaded as quickly as on the desktop. The only exception may be well-known and authoritative sites, such as Google or Facebook, as, in that case, visitors are ready to put up with a small delay because of their loud name. But, unfortunately, small businesses and start-ups cannot afford such a luxury.
What Might Be the Reasons That the Speed of the Site Loading Is Lower?
1) Server Performance: Regardless of how fast the rest is, a slow server will always screw everything up. If your site is slow, it’s because you are in line with a lot of other sites! Therefore, make sure that you have a suitable host that is appropriate for your business needs.
2) Large and heavy images: Use the correct image format, png or jpg, for better site speed. The size and format of the file can affect the load time of your site.
3) The density of codes: Huge, dense elements will inhibit your website. One of the densest elements of your site is the code that creates it.
4) Too many plugins: This means more wеіght to carry аnd more fіlе requеsts. If you run several plugins, it’ going to slow everything down.
5) Unnecessary redirects: It’s like loading а раge twice. If you don’t have a fantastic solution for this, be careful with the redirect to your site.
6) External embedded media: External media, such as video, are highly valuable but can increase the load time. To solve that problem, place the video on your own server.
7) Too many ads: They don’t just annoy your visitors, what is more, lots of ads can also hamper your page speed.
But It’s Still Worth Thinking About the Other Side
According to a recent post on SEOmoz, while site speed is a new signal, it doesn’t carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. Currently, less than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal. It basically means that the average websites won’t see much change, but, if your site is super slow, you will suffer.
The researches don’t talk about the sample: what kind of users they are and what are they searching for. You won’t wait for the download of an unfamiliar site, because you decide that it is “lying”. And you will wait at least 10 seconds if this is your favorite Facebook with unread messages and an unread news feed.
Secondly, there are “heavy” promo sites. It’s often just physically impossible for them to load in a moment – there are a lot of graphics and animations. Therefore, any statements about refusals and download speed aren’t relevant to promo sites.
Customer’s Comfort Is Something More
Remember that every second you reset the download time, you will increase the trust of customers to your site and plant seeds that will make it possible to tell others about you. In these cases, a few seconds can make a difference! Make site optimization, clear up the mobile version, but do not cling to a single metric. User comfort is more than just upload speed.
Don’t forget about other factors to make your site better, for instance: a clear correspondence of domains with keywords, constant updates and, of course, content. This is the exact recipe for website promotion.
Keep in mind that your work will never be done. Your mobile site is never too fast, and your customers won’t flock immediately as you get rid of some extra loading time. Go ahead and work on this. Now, tomorrow and next month.