Site speed is a crucial factor for the success of your website. It directly impacts the user experience, and your website's search engine optimization (SEO) performance, and the ranks for your desired keywords and key phrases. If your site is not fast it makes it so much harder to rank.
Why Is Site Speed Important for SEO?
Better User Experience
Your website's loading speed directly affects user experience. A slow-loading website can not only frustrate users, it will often lead them to leave your site having pre-judged your site on speed and not quality. Whist a fast-loading website can improve user experience, increase engagement, and ideally funnel interested visitors to the information, services and products you wish them to view.
Higher Ranking on Search Engines
Google has stated that site speed is a key ranking factor in their search algorithm. In simple terms websites that load faster tend to rank higher than slower websites. For you as a site owner this means that improving your site speed can lead to higher search engine rankings and increased organic traffic.
Improved Crawling and Indexing
For larger more content heavy sites improved speed affects how quickly search engine bots crawl and index your website's pages. With a faster site allowing search engine bots to crawl and index your pages more efficiently, which can lead to better search engine visibility.
Site speed is one of the first activities worked in when doing enhanced SEO for any website and can have significant impacts on user experience and search engine exposure.
How to Improve Site Speed for Better SEO
Choose a Good Web Hosting Service
The web hosting service you opt for can substantially impact the speed of your website. You should always choose a web hosting service that has been optimised to provide a fast server response time, sufficient bandwidth, and a high uptime guarantee. Especially if your website forms a core part of your marketing or is more crucial with a bulk of your leads then treat it like any other tool and ensure you get the best one for your job.
Optimize Images
Images can significantly impact the loading speed of your website. You can optimize images by reducing their file size, compressing them, and employing the appropriate format. There are several image optimisation tools available that can help you achieve this, with free and commercial options. Where possible always use the right image size and compression for the right display on site. (also related to user experience, always use appropriate sized images in your email marketing)
Some Optimisation Tools: squoosh.app, birme.net, croppola.com, canva.com/, adobe.com (express and photoshop)
Minimize HTTP Requests
In simple terms less is more. HTTP requests are made every time a webpage loads. The more requests a webpage has, the slower it loads. Minimize your HTTP requests simply by reducing the number of resources that each webpage has, such as images, scripts, and stylesheets. So whilst 50+ images might look great (once it has loaded) on a page the question is do your visitors really need that and/or is there a better way to display the content?
Use Caching
Not for the casual website owner but it is imperative that your web designer is paying attention to caching. It significantly improves your website's loading speed by storing frequently accessed data in the user's browser. Use browser caching to store static resources, images, scripts, stylesheets, and server-side caching to store dynamic content, such as database queries. Your website should have automated tools that assist with this.
Minimize Redirects
Redirects can slow down your website's loading speed by adding additional HTTP requests. Minimize redirects by using a single URL for each page and redirecting other URLs to the main URL. In combination with canonical tags (an entirely different conversation) this can be one of those low hanging fruit items on your journey to better SEO performance.
Enable Compression
Like caching, compression does require more knowledge of how your website hosting/server works. Gzip, Deflate, Dynamic compression (depending on your hosting platform) can significantly reduce the size of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, leading to much faster loading times. Depending on your host and website configuration this can be as simple to setup as a few lines of code on your website for a great impact.
Use a quality Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A content delivery network (CDN) is more of a high level tool that can be a game-changer when it comes to improving your website's loading speed by distributing your website's content across multiple servers worldwide. This ensures that users can access your website's content from the server closest to them, reducing latency and improving loading times. This is a vital tool for image heavy websites, such as for Real Estate and Business Brokerage, and of course ecommerce. If it is not automated into your website you may need assistance of your webmaster to achieve the desired results.
Conclusion
Site speed is a crucial factor in the success of your website whether if its for personal/club/hobby or business needs. A fast-loading website can improve user experience, search engine rankings, and indexing. Use the tips mentioned in this article to improve your website's speed and enhance your SEO performance.
Site Speed FAQs
1. What is a good site speed score?
A good site speed score is under three seconds. Websites need to load in under three seconds to be considered fast, whilst those that take longer than three seconds are considered slow.
2. How do I check my website's speed?
You can check your website's speed using online tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom. These tools provide detailed reports on your website's speed, performance, and suggestions for improvement. Remember you can also check your competitors websites to see how you perform compared to them.
3. Can site speed affect my website's conversion rate?
Yes, site speed can significantly impact your website's conversion rate. A fast-loading website can improve user engagement and reduce bounce rates, leading to higher conversion rates. Conversely, a slow-loading website will frustrate users and often lead them to leave your site, resulting in lower conversion rates (lost sales).
4. Is mobile site speed important for SEO?
Yes, mobile site speed is crucial for SEO. With the increasing use of mobile devices, Google has made mobile-friendliness and site speed important ranking factors in their search algorithm. It's essential to ensure that your website loads quickly on mobile devices.
5. How often should I monitor my website's speed?
You should monitor your website's speed regularly, at least once a month. Regular monitoring allows you to identify any issues and take necessary steps to improve your site speed. Additionally, you should also monitor your site speed after making any changes to your website, such as adding new features or content.