Does Speed Impact SEO? Here’s what you need to know!
With an average human attention span shorter than a goldfish, you cannot expect your TG to wait for your business website to get loaded!
In mere 9 seconds, your readers will start losing interest in your website. So, if you don’t want to lose out on precious traffic, it is high time you start focusing on its speed.
Poor CWV or Core Web Vital Score of a website can actually affect the performance of any website. With parameters such as First Input Delay (FID), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), the CWV update has affected the overall SEO strategy for all types of websites.
Wish to know more about the impact of website loading speed on your SEO strategy? Scroll down and dive deeper into the details!
Page Speed- Meaning
So, what does page speed mean? Basically, it is that metric that helps in measuring the exact time within which a page loads. Now here comes the catch.
You should not confuse site speed with page speed. The latter refers to specific pages of your websites. It is affected by multiple factors such as file size, image compression, quality of the 10gbps dedicated server, and so on.
Different Metrics Used for Measuring Page Speed
- Fully loaded page: This metric hints towards the time within which all the resources of a page get loaded.
- Time to First Byte: The moment your browser requests a web page to the time the first byte of resources or data that is returned by the internet server is called Time to First Byte or TTFB.
- Time to Interactive: The time taken by a page to get loaded enough so that the user can start interacting with it is known as Time to Interactive.
- Page Size: The size of the different resources on your page impacts the overall loading time for your website page.
- First Contextual Paint: The initial few seconds that a page takes so that the user can start reading the content is called First Contextual Paint.
How Can You Monitor the Page Speed for a Website?
In order to stay in the competition, you must keep a check on the page speed of your website. For this purpose, you can leverage a tool named “Page Speed Insights API.” By leveraging this tool, developers can track a web page’s performance as well as utilize the recommendations for enhancing the performance.
Basically, the Page Speed Insights API offers a report that contains data regarding Chrome user experience. The data also comprises lab data derived from Lighthouse.
Why is Page Speed Significant for SEO?
As per Google, page speed is a direct ranking factor as far as mobile searches are concerned (July 2018). Now that Google has introduced CWVs or Core Web Vitals update, page speed has become a significant ranking factor for all the pages of a website. With this update, Google aims to enhance the user experience.
It is evident that page speed affects user experience. The greater the speed of website pages, the higher the chances for users to stay on the website for a longer duration. The pages that load fast keep the users engaged, and they do not switch to another website.
It is, therefore, essential that you keep monitoring your website page speed by using Page Speed Insights API and take the necessary actions to improve it. No matter how engaging the content of your website is; no matter how appealing the website design is. If the page speed is slow, then your TG is more likely to switch to another website that loads faster and offers similar content.
Google, Page Speed and SEO
Google always prioritises users. And it does not prefer ranking website which offer a poor experience to the users because of slow page speed. And since the ultimate aim of search engine optimization is to rank your website, all attempts and strategies will go in vain if the page speed itself is slow.
Even if all the SEO tactics are on point, Google will not rank your website high since the pages load slower than usual.
Benefits of Higher Page Speed for Websites
Below-mentioned are the multiple benefits of higher page speed for a website:
- Improved page load time leads to lower bounce rates for websites.
- It enhances the number of page views.
- The conversion rate increases too.
- Enhanced page load time helps in improving well time as well.
- It significantly pushes a website higher in SERPs.
How to Enhance Your Page Speed Insights Score?
If you wish to enhance the page speed for your website, follow the below-mentioned hacks and witness better SEO results:
- Maintain Minimal Resources:
Multiple CSS files can lead to multiple HTTP requests. This, in turn, slows down the page speed of the website. It is, therefore, necessary to cut down on CSS files.
When minimal CSS, HTML, and JavaScript codes are used, unnecessary spacing, characters, comments, etc. get removed from the website content. The decreased file size makes it easier to combine them in one place. As a result, you get cleaner coders and web pages that load faster.
- Make the most out of Browser Caching:
Browser caching helps you to enhance your page speed. Because of this technique, the browser can easily share multiple details such as JavaScript files, stylesheets, images, etc. Thus, every time a user visits the page, the browser does not have to reload the complete page.
- Leverage CDN or Content Delivery Network:
Also known as Content Distribution Network, a CDN is a sort of network that helps in improving the page speed of any website. A CDN does so by initially hosting and then delivering copies of the static content of your website from different servers that are situated around the globe
A Content Delivery Network offers alongside your hosting partner.
- Use Image Compression Technique:
Right images can change the overall appeal of your website. Besides, it adds to the quality of the content. But you should always beware of using large pictures as they can slow down the page speed of your website.
It is, therefore, advisable to compress as well as optimize the images in order to increase the page speed. This can be done by altering the file formats of the images, using lossless or lossy compression, and leveraging lazy loading.
When you reduce the file size for the images, you are basically reducing their weight. This, in turn, helps your page to load faster.
- Go For a Performance-Oriented Website Hosting Brand:
The web hosting solution that you rely upon also has a great role to play in improving the page speed of your website.
Therefore, you should never go with an average hosting provider just for the sake of cutting down on your monthly subscription expenses.
Cost-effective hosting solutions offer not-so-good performance. An overloaded server will eventually lead to slower page loading time.
You should, therefore, always invest your money and time in a performance-oriented hosting provider to ensure that your website page loads swiftly. It is advisable not to go for shared hosting solutions; instead, consider affordable VPS hosting solutions, which would be a great alternative.
- Cut down on unnecessary HTTP requests:
Too many HTTP requests can slow down your page loading speed. It is, therefore, necessary that you keep a check on the number of HTTP requests. To cut down on these requests, one can merge multiple CSS files into one. There are tools and plug-ins to identify duplicate redirects.
- Get Rid of Unnecessary Plug-ins:
If you are using too many plug-ins, then this, too, may slow down the page speed. Also, outdated plug-ins can create a security threat to your website.
Also, they can hinder the performance of the website. It is, therefore, advisable to use minimum plug-ins for your website. You should disable and delete any plug-in which is not serving any purpose to you at present.
From time to time, you should monitor the installed plug-ins. Keep a check on those that have overlapping purposes. Get rid of the ones which are not relevant to your website.
Also, keep testing if any particular plug-in is actually slowing down your website.
- Leverage Asynchronous as well as defer loading for JavaScript and CSS files:
CSS and JavaScript files together make up your website. Either these scripts get loaded one by one (synchronous). Or, multiple scripts get loaded simultaneously (asynchronous).
When you set up asynchronous loading, it helps to improve the performance of your page. When you set these up, they help in getting rid of render-blocking resources.
- Don’t Forget to Cache the Web Pages:
One of the most effective tactics to enhance the page speed of your website is to cache up the web pages. By caching your web page, you can bring down Time to First Byte (TTFB). This is done by limiting the number of resources that are required to load your website page.
Wrapping up!
If you are not yet working on speeding up the website pages, know that this will impact the rankings of your website. With CWV updates ushered in by Google, it is high time that you focus on leveraging Page Speed Insights API to improve the loading speed of your website.
Without an impressive page speed, your SEO strategy will go down the drain. Refer to the latest updates about CWVs and page loading speed at Digi Updates.
Author’s Bio:
Melissa How has 20 years of experience in Digital Marketing and works with small businesses that wish to achieve goals and drive growth. As a highly regarded Marketing Consultant, Melissa enjoys empowering others. Knowledge builds confidence and bringing expertise to the team improves marketing competencies and accelerates results.
What is Page Speed
It is that metric that helps in measuring the exact time within which a page loads.
How Can You Monitor the Page Speed for a Website?
In order to stay in the competition, you must keep a check on the page speed of your website. For this purpose, you can leverage a tool named “Page Speed Insights API.”
Why is Page Speed Significant for SEO?
As per Google, page speed is a direct ranking factor as far as mobile searches are concerned (July 2018). Now that Google has introduced CWVs or Core Web Vitals update, page speed has become a significant ranking factor for all the pages of a website. With this update, Google aims to enhance the user experience.
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