SEO and Page Load Speed
Did you know a slow loading page will not only frustrate people coming to your site and make for bad user experience, but will also make your site rank lower with search engines? It’s true.
Users expect websites to be fast; especially nowadays with the importance of mobile. Consumers expect services to be on-demand and seamlessly delivered. They don’t want to wait for a slow site to load. Google and other search engines know this and rank accordingly. Waiting for content to appear, being unable to interact with a page, and even noticing delays costs not only time, but also money. Research has shown that 53% of mobile website visitors will leave if a webpage doesn’t load within three seconds.
Research shows that the level of stress from waiting for slow mobile results can be more stressful than watching a horror movie.
It’s no surprise that Google has been measuring the speed of your site and using that in their ranking algorithm. It’s not just Google that has this opinion on page load speed. Research from around the web shows the same! According to wired.com 47% of people expect a site to load in less than 2 seconds. And if you’re in the e-Commerce game it’s even more important. Amazon found every 100ms of latency cost them 1% in sales!
These results are caused by slow load speed which causes your potential customers to become frustrated. Frustration doesn’t make for good user experience. Good experience is one of the things Google is trying to reinforce in their search engine rankings. So you see, faster page load speed is a big help in Search Engine Optimization.
Of course, this is only one of the many factors in how your site will rank with search engines. Content is still king and then there are things like alt tags for images, link text, headings, and page titles. They all come together like the ingredients in a great meal. Do it right and it’s a very pleasant experience. Do it wrong and it will leave a really bad taste in your mouth. A faster web is better for users and therefore makes for better business.
Are you wondering how your site will measure up in load speed and other metrics? Contact us today to get a FREE diagnostic done of your website.
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