A slow website is like being stuck in traffic. You can easily get impatient if nothing is happening and quickly look to your left or right to switch routes. When it comes to websites, that’s how users switch once yours is slow, especially if they’re using a mobile device.
According to Southern (2019), ”fifty-four percent of people say that as the load time for a brand’s mobile site increases, so does their frustration”.
One of the most important user experience factors of a website is page speed; the duration/speed it takes for a page to load. As web owners and SEO experts, understanding how users interact with your website is crucial. Websites are one of the many customer touchpoints that require businesses to continuously optimise, especially if they want to increase user experience and conversions.
According to Southern (2019), ”Google encourages businesses not to think of mobile speed as a one-and-done fix. It should be an ongoing priority” (Southern, 2019).
What is page speed?
Page speed can be defined as the speed of a single or individual page on a website. Page speed can be defined as the speed of a single or individual page on a website. Page speed analysis entails an assessment of a particular page to debug resources that are slowing/accelerating its load time.
What is site speed?
Site speed can be defined as the speed of the entire site. An analysis of website using site speed tests assesses the entire website while giving it an overall score based on all pages included.
Difference between site speed and page speed?
Site speed and page speed are usually intertwined, though the difference between page speed and site speed is that page speed looks at a single page on the site and site speed looks at all the pages on the site.
Why is in-depth page speed analysis important in SEO?
Understanding how users interact with your website is one of the most important aspects of user experience and customer service. As business owners, we all want to increase sales and customer base, but what if these goals are being obstructed by your page speed? In this case, users are leaving your page before making a sale or seeing the entire site. This is why knowing the status of each page your website is vital.
There is a number of resources used to create websites, these could include CSS, JS files, images, fonts, and CMS theme files. All of these have an impact on page and site speed, if well optimised your site will be able to load quickly. If not, your site could potentially lose out on:
- Ranking – Google has been made web site speed (since 2010) and mobile page speed (since 2018) official ranking factors that SEO experts should look into when optimising websites.
- Conversions – Page/site speed has an impact on conversions as sites that load slowly have a higher bounce rate, meaning users leave without spending enough time to convert or buy.
- User Experience – The ability to debug page by page will enable developers and SEO experts to further optimise the site for better performance and speed. This will enhance user experience as they get information as fast they want and can browse through the site without waiting for pages to load.
- Returning Customers – Users are likely to return to a site that has a fast page speed. Furthermore, a usual user is likely to bookmark a performing site and return for a different purchase or enquiry, depending on the level of their previous experience.
Major players in the world wide web have already started optimising their landing pages. According to Crowe (2018), “For Amazon, just one second could cost it $1.6 billion in sales each year. And, The Telegraph, a British publication, found that a four second delay reduced page views by 11.02 percent”.
How to improve page and site speed?
Google offers free service applications called Page Speed Insights and Test My Site to help developers and SEO experts to analyse page speed and provides recommended optimisations. Note that you can only see how users interact with your site (with regards to desktop and mobile speed) and not how Google actually reads and sees your website.
In Summary
Page speed optimisation is a continuous and on-going process. It is essential that every site owner performs a monthly site speed audit that includes both page speed analysis and overall site speed analysis. This is will help identify which pages to focus on and how users interact with your site.
Furthermore, website’s that load quick have the potential of getting better search rankings and retaining customers.
At Algorithm, we provide a comprehensive site speed audit with an in-depth page-level analysis in our monthly SEO audits. If you wish for us to run a site speed audit for you contact us today.
Article Author: Solomon Tshielo
