Introduction:
Speed can make or break the overall success of your website.
Google defines a “slow” website as one that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Slow website speed isn’t just inconvenient, it can have far-reaching implications on user experience, Google Web Vitals and even how it ranks in Google (search engine optimisation – SEO).
This blog explores what slow website speed means, its impact on users and SEO, the relevance to Google Web Vitals, and offers insights into best practices to accelerate your site’s performance.
What Google Defines as Slow Website Speed:
Google, being the most used search engine globally (60% use compared to – for example – Microsoft Edge at about 10%), has set various benchmarks for webmasters to follow as guidelines:
- Good – Page loads within 2.5s or less
- Need Improvement – Page loads within 2.5s to 4s
- Poor – Page load takes more than 4s
These numbers are based on extensive research and recognise that web users today have limited patience. A delay of just a few seconds can lead to user frustration, increased bounce rates (exits), and potentially lost revenue.
The Impact on Users:
Slow website loading is frustrating for users and creates a poor experience. If a website is slow, users will likely leave and find a faster one. This is especially true if they haven’t visited your site before. High bounce rates translate to lost opportunities, sales, and diminished user satisfaction. Even niche and market leading businesses should not expect that users will put up with their slow website. In time, they may go elsewhere.
The Impact on SEO:
Google holds user experience in high regard, and website speed is one of the crucial factors in its algorithm. Search rankings penalise slow websites, making it harder for potential customers to find you. Speed has been a confirmed ranking factor with Google, with faster websites often gaining favour in Google’s rankings. In the fiercely competitive online marketplace, this can have a significant impact on your visibility in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
Relevance to Google Web Vitals:
Google Web Vitals have made website speed even more important. These Vitals are user-focused measurements that assess how your site performs. Among them, “Largest Contentful Paint” (LCP), “First Input Delay” (FID), and “Cumulative Layout Shift” (CLS) gauge speed and user interaction. If your website is slow, these metrics can be negatively affected, leading to lower Web Vitals scores, which, in turn, can affect your site’s search ranking and user experience.
In March 2024, FID will be replaced with a more precise metric called Interaction to Next Paint (INP). You can find out more in Google’s article “Introducing INP to Core Web Vitals.”
Molokini’s Best Practices and Solutions for Faster Website Speed:
- Mobile Optimisation: As a growing part of web traffic originates from mobile devices, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly on smartphones and tablets is essential. Google’s mobile-first indexing prioritises mobile-optimised sites.
- Content Delivery: Using Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) can efficiently distribute your website’s content across multiple servers, reducing latency and increasing loading speeds for users worldwide. This works by reducing the physical distance data must traverse.
- Browser Caching: Configure server settings to enable browser caching. This enables your website’s resources to be stored locally on users’ devices, reducing load times upon later visits.
- Image Optimisation: Oversized images are often responsible for slow loading times. To accelerate loading, compress and resize images to their optimal display size and use modern formats like WebP for quicker loading.
- Reduce HTTP Requests: Each request your webpage makes for resources like images, scripts, and stylesheets contributes to loading time. Streamline these by combining or cutting unnecessary elements.
- File Compression: Enable GZIP compression on your server to reduce file sizes, helping quicker transfers to users’ devices.
- Limit External Resources: Evaluate the necessity of third-party scripts and resources, as they can either enhance your website’s functionality or hinder its speed. Minimise them when possible.
Conclusion:
Your website speed matters a lot. It’s not just about making users happy, it’s crucial for SEO and how people experience your site. If your website is slow, it can make visitors frustrated and push your site down in search results.
Google Web Vitals now emphasises the importance of having a fast website to offer a good user experience. To stay competitive online, you need to follow best practices and ensure your site’s load times are quick. This makes for happier users, reduces bounce rates, and helps your SEO efforts. In the digital age, speed is essential for unlocking your website’s full potential.
At Molokini, we take the above steps seriously and implement them as best practices for our clients, which is all part of our extensive experience in creating fast and responsive websites. The websites we build are also optimised for SEO, increasing their chances of ranking high in search results. And for those wanting copy written for their website that packs a punch, we have a dedicated content team in support.
So, if you are looking for a trustworthy, creative and experienced WordPress web development team to improve your site speed, user experience and Google ranking then contact us for a personalised and consultative chat!
We love chatting about all things digital and overcoming challenges with creative solutions.