{"id":7731,"date":"2023-01-27T13:46:30","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T13:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/?p=7731"},"modified":"2025-03-04T14:59:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T14:59:16","slug":"page-speed-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/page-speed-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Page Speed SEO: 9 Ways to Improve Page Loading Speed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Don\u2019t think that page speed SEO affects your business performance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing frustrates online users more than a slow website. They make that known by abandoning the site and never returning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent study found that the difference in the conversion rate between a fast and slow website is very pronounced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A website that loads in one second has a conversion rate that\u2019s 5X more than a website that takes 10 seconds to load.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Image via <\/em>Portent<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Users also spend more time, have more sessions, and visit more pages on websites that load quickly. In the graph above, the size of the bubble indicates the number of sessions users have on the website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see that visitors have more sessions on websites that load in one or two seconds than on websites that take 10 seconds to load. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before we try to understand what this means for your business, let\u2019s first determine the customer expectation regarding page speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study<\/a> by Digital.com found that more than half of all shoppers expect a website to load in no more than 3 seconds. And 39% of shoppers expect the pages on an e-commerce site to load in 2 – 3 seconds, while 14% want the pages to load in one second. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Image via <\/em>Digital.com<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

So, what happens when a site takes more than 3 seconds to load?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most visitors simply abandon the site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Websites that load slowly are the top source of dissatisfaction for online shoppers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One in two will leave a website that takes too long to load, abandoning their carts and everything in there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, 21% of online shoppers may not abandon the site but will purchase fewer products than they intended. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Image via Digital.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

As you can see, a slow-loading site negatively impacts your ability to engage visitors and generate sales. This means a fast-load site is crucial\u2014not just for Google rankings, but also for growing your profits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article covers the essentials of page speed SEO and how to increase your  website speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Page<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

What is Page Speed?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Page speed is the amount of time it takes for a browser to render a page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot goes into how fast a page loads. The user could have a poor internet connection or a website’s hosting service could be acting up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when talking about page speed, some issues could be out of your control as the site owner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are many elements a webmaster can optimize to improve page speed SEO such as Javascript, the size of files, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because page speed is crucial to the user experience, Google now considers it when ranking web pages on SERPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2010, Google declared that page speed will be considered in its search ranking. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Image via <\/em>Google<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

After using site speed as a ranking signal for desktop searches, Google announced that page speed will also be used for ranking mobile searches as of July 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Image via <\/em>Google<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This was informed by the fact that more mobile users are using their devices to search the web. And these mobile visitors want the sites they visit to open quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, Google takes site loading speed seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want the search engine giant to promote your website on search rankings, then you need to find ways to optimize your page speed SEO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With search engines placing such a huge emphasis on site speed, you\u2019d expect marketers to take the issue seriously as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But guess what, they don\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a study of more than 5 billion desktop and mobile pages spanning more than 100 countries, Backlinko found that the mean speed index was 4.8 seconds for desktop sites and 11.455 seconds for mobile sites. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Image via <\/em>Backlinko<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Of all the sectors surveyed, none came close to the recommended best practice of 3 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many webmasters have a lot to do to appeal to users and search engines. But this also means that optimizing your page speed SEO will place you well ahead of the pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding site speed to your SEO checklist<\/a> will help you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n