Evidence Website Speed as a Ranking Factor
Page speed is a ranking factor because it improves the user experience. Google considered it a long time back until April 2010. The company released a statement
“Like us, our users place a lot of value in speed – that’s why we’ve decided to take site speed into account in our search rankings.”
Google initially added this factor in desktop results. However, after 8 years, the company decided to add it to mobile ranking factors as well. The company released a statement,
“Users want to find answers to their questions quickly, and data shows that people really care about how quickly their pages load. The Search team announced speed would be a ranking signal for desktop searches in 2010, and as of this month (July 2018), page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile searches too.”
Later, In May 2020, Google revealed that "page experience" would be introduced as a ranking factor in its search algorithm. On 28th May 2020, Google introduced Core Web Vitals. These include the 3 key factors which determine the page experience of users.
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
All this evidence proves that website speed is a key factor for Google rankings. Now that we know that much we need to know what are the factors that affect the page speed.
Factors Affecting Website Speed
Multiple factors affect the speed of a website. Every single factor affects how quickly your site loads and performs. Below is a list of all these factors.
- File sizes
- HTTP requests
- Mobile Optimization
- Coding standards
- Caching
- Image compression
- Plugins
- Heavy CSS and JavaScript use
- Hotlinking
- Poor hosting
- Redirects
- Server performance
- Absence of CDN
- Minification of CSS and JavaScript
- Traffic volume
How To Conduct A Website Speed Test?
You can check the speed website easily by using the reshepe platform
It will check your web page for both mobile and desktop users. You will see the pass and fail status on top in front of the Core Web Vitals Assessment. It will provide you with a score out of 100 for four different metrics, including Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO.
The Long-Term Benefits Of A Fast Website
A fast website does more than just load quickly. It impacts various aspects of your online presence. Below is the list of long-term benefits of a fast website:
Increased Conversion Rates With Fast Website Speed
The first benefit on our list is higher conversions. A fast website makes it easy for users to quickly complete actions like making a purchase or filling out a form. It improves your chances of turning visitors into customers.
Enhanced User Experience and Satisfaction
Speedy load times improve the overall user experience by providing quick access to content. Users are more likely to stay on websites that respond quickly as compared to others. Satisfied users can become your permanent visitors or customers and even recommend it to others.
Lower Bounce Rates
Bounce rate is an essential SEO metric. Higher website speed keeps users engaged, which eventually reduces the bounce rate. Low bounce rates indicate that visitors are finding what they need quickly and efficiently.
Improved SEO Rankings
Search engines also prefer fast-loading sites in their rankings because they offer a better user experience. Faster sites are crawled and indexed more quickly than others. Higher SEO rankings will boost your website traffic.
Higher User Engagement Due To Fast Website Speed
A fast website helps users to interact more with your content and stay longer. It increases the chances of users exploring additional pages and returning to your site in the future. People are more likely to stick around when their previous experience was smooth and enjoyable.
Better Overall Site Performance and Reliability
A website that loads quickly is often more reliable. It can handle traffic spikes and user interactions more efficiently. Consistent performance builds trust and ensures that your site remains accessible every time. This reliability is beneficial for your long-term success and user satisfaction.
Case Studies Proving the Importance Of Website Speed
There have been hundreds of case studies on the relationship between website loading speed and its performance. There has been a significant difference in the conversion rates and ranking of websites after the optimisation. Below are the case studies of the three reputable websites. Let’s check them out.
Pinterest is a reputable social media company. They started this by conducting thorough research about what’s really important to their users. Then, they introduced a new metric: user-perceived wait time (UPWT) to improve user's experiences.
After that, the company optimised its signup page by 60%, considering this metric. It resulted in faster loading of images on Pinterest. This optimisation resulted in a 40% better conversion rate as compared to the previous page.
Vodafone
The next case study is about Vodafone, a reputable telecom company. They optimised their website speed to improve the user experience. They noticed an 8% increase in sales after optimising Largest Contentful Paint by 31%, which is a key metric of core web Vitals. Alongside it the other optimisations were about resizing images, reducing render-blocking Javascript and server-side rendering.
Swappie Website Speed Optimization Case Study
The third case study is about Swappie, which is a shopping website. They started a project to focus on performance optimisation to improve their business. Their first step was to determine a metric that would directly help them increase their business and revenue. This metric was the relative mobile conversion rate. It means the number of conversions by mobile users as compared to desktop users.
The relative mobile conversion rate is around 50 percent. It means 50 percent less as compared to the desktop conversion rate. However, after working for three months on this project, Swappie noticed their relative mobile conversion rate increased from 24% to 34%. As a result, their mobile revenue increased by 42%.
Swappie improved their Core Web Vitals a lot in this project. Here is the percentage showing their progress as compared to earlier;
- Largest Contentful Paint reduced by 55%
- Cumulative Layout Shift decreased by 91%
- First Input Delay cut by 90%
Want To Improve Your Website Speed?
reshepe provides you with a website speed checker which helps you to analyse and improve your webpage speed. We consider several metrics, including Core web Vitals, etc, to check it. The tool identifies exactly what is slowing down your website’s speed and how it can be improved.
We have affordable and transparent pricing that is suitable for everyone. Need a faster website for higher rankings and conversions? Take the first step — contact us now to discover how we can help you achieve a more efficient and high-performing site.
