How important is page speed when it comes to search rankings?

Back in 2010, Google announced that page speed had become a ranking factor in its algorithm. As with most measurements behind Google’s algorithm the actual details behind the measurement of page speed, and the level of its importance, are a little hazy. The fact remains that the amount of time your web pages take to load is a ranking factor.

Of course, ranking is not the only reason to make sure that the pages of your website load efficiently. We are going to look at what can adversely affect load times and why improving the speed of web pages is so important.

What could be affecting the page speed of your website?

If the pages of your website do not load effectively and quickly then visitors to the site may be put off and decide to go elsewhere. There are several factors which may cause page speed to be slow, and which you should pay attention to.

• Hosting choice; you need to make sure that your choice is the right fit for your business. It’s important to remember that the cheapest option is not necessarily the best option.
• Images which are too large. If you have large images, with no compression, on your website, pages will generally take extra time to load.
• Failure to ensure browser optimisation. Do not forget that your page loads differently from browser to browser; this means that page speed can vary greatly. You need to check page speeds for your website across all browsers.
• Being heavy on the advertising. If you have too many advertisements on your website page load times may increase. This irritates visitors to the site in two ways. Most people find an excess of advertisements annoying and they are also likely to be put off by the resulting slower page times.

If you need help with optimising the performance of your website it’s a good idea to speak to the experts. You can click this link for more information.

Why is slow page speed so important?

We have shown you several reasons why the page speed of your website may not be optimised; but why does all this really matter? As we mentioned earlier, page speed is now part of the Google ranking algorithm. That being said it’s not the most important ranking factor; the quality of the site and its content is still the number one consideration.

Arguably, the most important reason to improve page speed is customer attraction and retention. There is no escaping the fact that people are not going to be happy if they visit your site only to have to wait an age to view the content. The optimum page load speed is four seconds, with the average speed being around seven seconds. If your page speeds are slower then people are going to leave your website and go elsewhere.

Hopefully we have shown you the importance of page speed when it comes to developing and maintaining a website. Page speed may not be the most important factor when it comes to determining search ranking but it’s vital if you want to attract custom to your website and retain it.