How Does Website Speed Affect SEO Rankings?

How Does Website Speed Affect SEO Rankings?

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Over the past years, there has been a rapid change in the way people do business. Things have gone online so do the organizations with an aim to increase their customer base and earn profit. These days, SEO is an important factor, or call it a marketing strategy that helps a business to grow by landing on top of search engine pages. SEO (Search engine optimization) relies on multiple blocks which assist your business to rank on top of Google. However, the promising factor here is the speed of your website which is an affecting SEO factor.

Before getting straight to the point let us know about SEO and how a high-speed site can improve things for you.

What is SEO 

SEO means search engine optimization which helps your website to rank on top. It includes off-page and on-page optimization techniques that organizations rely on to remain on the first page of search engines and earn more profit. If you are also worried about your website SEO you must know that speed is a direct ranking factor.  Some people often wonder is the site speed really make difference? Well yes, and a short answer will make things more difficult for you to understand.

Therefore, we will explain things in an easy manner to help you find out the answer to your question. 

What is page speed 

Website speed refers to the pace at which a page loads on your site. You might think every page would have the same loading speed. However, that is not the case as every page has different factors which influence its loading speed. The factors include pictures, scripts, plugins, etc.

High speed is an essential element to earning top search engine ranking therefore, you should keep it in your mind. In case your website takes time in loading it will result in bouncing of traffic.  Here your competitors will get a chance to steal your audience and leave you behind. All users want these days is a high-loading page from where they can fulfill their requirements. Therefore, optimized speed can help you win more customers. 

Website speed 

Website speed is the pace at which your website loads when users navigate through it. You can check in google site speed analytic reports how quickly the audience can see the content available on the site. Contrary to the site page speed the website speed focuses on the overall site speed. Whereas, page speed is the speed of that specific page you are looking at.  You have to keep a strict check on your site being a website owner to ensure the inflow of traffic.

Does website speed affect SEO?

Yes, it is a key factor when it comes to Search engine optimization. The website owner should ensure that his site loads quickly on phones and computers. The main reason because of why site loading duration can affect your SEO ranking is associated with the google algorithm. It’s actually Google’s algorithm that analyzes how online visitors interact with sites. 

The basic fundamental of search engine optimization revolves around the user experience. Search engines like Google aim that users can find accurate websites in the results of their searches. This means google rewards high-speed websites. For a long-time google has seen the value of a great user experience. Therefore, it is a great idea to make your site quick to load.

The speed of your site has a direct effect on the high ranking in the SERPs (search engine results pages) on the basis of numerous factors like  

  • Page per view
  • Per page visit 
  • Duration of the session
  • Bounce rate

Offering a great user experience on your site is a great thing. However, being able to show google how much you are working hard to offer a quick-loading website will boast your ranking quickly.

You Might Also Like to Read: 12 Signs You Need To Change Web Hosting

Advantages of Having a High-Speed Website 

Speed is the ranking factor and it works this way since 2010. The less time your site requires to load the higher it will rank which will result in bringing more traffic to your site. On the other hand, the longer your web store takes time to load it will be tough for you to remain on the first page of search engines.

Improves User experience 

A high-speed website means customers will get the required information sooner. Websites on mobile that load quickly have a 10% higher conversion rate than an ordinary mobile site. In case your site pages load quickly there are chances the buyer will remain on it resulting in a sale for your business.

Lowers Bounce Rate 

Over time internet is getting faster making it challenging for website owners to maintain a site that is as fast as the internet is. Numerous surveys have found a clear connection between the required time for a page load and the number of visitors who have to wait.

In case a page takes 1-4 seconds to load your bounce rate starts increasing. As customers don’t like to wait eventually and they move on to the next one. On the other hand, if your website page is loading in 5-10 seconds consider it a disaster for the site and business as well.

Here you should know that this research is from 2017 which means the expectations of customers have long increased along with technology.

Easy Navigation 

When a user encounters a slow-loading page there is no chance he will wait for it to load. Slow pages create hurdles in your ranking as they urge customers to find another option. A quick loading site is important for SEO factor as it can help you increase sales.

So far we have learned how much speed can affect the overall performance of your online business. Therefore, being an owner you must check your speed and measure it to ensure there is nothing wrong. If you don’t have any idea about how to measure it. There is no need to worry at all, we are here to make things easy for you.

Factors that can slow your website speed 

Being a website owner you have to keep an eye on multiple things when it comes to your website speed. Therefore, you should know what can slow down the speed of your website. Make sure to compress all the images before uploading them to your site. You can take help from Photoshop as well.

Communication between the server and website 

Server response time is figured by how quickly information reaches your server to the browser of your customer. Apart from having a great server for hosting your website you have to ensure your database response is quick.

Images 

An affecting factor that can slow down the speed of your site gradually. Therefore, it is common that the bigger your images the slower your website will be.

How to Measure website speed? 

We are living in a modern era where we have tools and solutions for the problems you face in your online business.  Similarly, there are many tools that can help you to keep a check on your site speed. Which we are going to disclose.

Google Lighthouse 

A complementary testing service from Google that you can avail yourself to check how good your site speed is. The website owner can add it to his workflow in multiple ways. However, a simple tactic of doing that is to access it via Google chrome DevTools.

Which helps to rate your website on numerous performance and speed measures to share an overall score. It’s a useful tool to start and check the current speed status of your site.

Page Speed Insights

Another free tool from google for website owners. Here you have to enter the URL of your website in return you will get a report which will demonstrate how slow/fast your site is. Moreover, the report gives a detailed breakup of the site speed along with metrics and a diagnostic section that handles the areas of improvement. In addition, it also shares an overall score, usually out of 100. So you can have an idea about the status of your online business.

Pingdom Speed Test 

An accurate tool that website owners prefer whenever they plan on checking their site speed. It offers 

  • Quick result of speed test without asking for registration 
  • Breakdown of the resources, content, file requests, etc., that are affecting your pages’ load time if you sign-up for their premium service. 
  • Pingdom also offers a 14-day trial period from which you can take huge advantage.

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