Google factors page speed into its indexing algorithm and the time it takes your website to load can have a significant impact in your search engine ranking results. Ranking better in search engines means more traffic and more conversions for your business. In addition to better search engine optimization, a fast website is better for user experience. It is clear that making your site as fast as possible is important.
How much of an impact does a few seconds have on your site’s performance and search engine placement? Let’s take a look at some recent research. According to Google, the average time it takes for a mobile landing page to load is now more than 22 seconds. The average visitor decides if they want to stay for your page to load within 3 seconds. See an issue there? And while page speed is very important for search engine optimization, it is even more important for customer experience and conversion rate.
Research shows that the chance of a bounce (a visitor leaving your site) increases 32% when the page load time goes from 1 second to just 3 seconds, and a bounce rate of 90% if your site takes 5 seconds to load. If your site takes 10 seconds to load, the chance of your visitor leaving increases to over 120%! Those numbers are alarming and prove that page load time is extremely important for increasing engagement and conversions.
Search engines view better performance as a sign of a healthy website that pleases visitors and they reward faster loading sites with higher search engine rankings.
There are a few simple things you can do to speed up your site and increase search engine visibility. Work on improving your page load speed by eliminating overbearing sliders and videos of possible, optimizing images, compressing code, and loading fewer scripts and external links. You should also leverage browser caching and enable gzip compression. In addition to all of this, it is important to host your site on a fast server that is configured to serve up websites quickly.
If you are struggling with improving your page load speed, getting better search engine placement and improving your website’s conversion rate, let us know. We’ll be glad to help.
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