How important is website speed?

SenseiSteve

SenseiSteve

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Staff member
There has been research to show that eCommerce sites in particular lose nearly one fourth of their potential clients if a site takes more than four seconds to load. I don’t know how true that is, but I do know that speed matters, and not just to consumers.

Google factors speed into their algorithms for ranking sites on their search engine. If it matters to Google, and you rely on online visitors to sustain your eCommerce operations, speed should matter to you as well.

Your thoughts? ...
 
We've seen website rankings improve with nothing changed other than the place they have the DNS run through for their domain.

For example, instead of running through ns1.xyzhost.com, we set the domain to ns1-cloud.googledomains.com (or whatever their Nameserver Is). Just a decrease in the lookup time can be enough to shift the needle.

Then take into account moving web hosts, which can increase speed too (depending on their network). Of course, none of that matters if the site is not optimized to begin with.

So we have seen increases in rankings based on website speed, however, there's the other angle on things too;

We have a client that runs a flash sale a few times per year. They have a huge following. They don't rely on organic listings but rely heavily on their newsletter and social media. Their site can start to slow down with thousands of people on the site within a 15-minute timeframe. But sales do not get impacted as it's a short supply that's going to sell out no matter what.

Rankings can be impacted by speed, but for some clients' customers, speed is not a concern. They'll wait for a slow page, as long as they have secured the session to checkout with their one-of-a-kind item.
 
Website speed is very important because it affects conversions. Website visitors or potential customers will bounce or not return to any website with a low page speed. Thus, leading to a loss in revenue.
 
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Hey there!
1. Fast loading times impress users.
As a first-time visitor, they expect a website to load quickly (within 3 seconds). Remember that initial impressions matter for online enterprises. Speed influences how online users view a brand.
A faster website is perceived as more professional and dependable. Inversely, consumers dislike a sluggish website. Most consumers leave instantly and choose to browse other, speedier websites. It's not easy to undo a bad impression.
2. Website speed influences SEO rankings
Google has made it plain that they are obsessed with speed. Matt Cutts, Google's former director of web spam, has stated that quick load time is a ranking factor.
Google has stressed that website owners should not sacrifice content quality or relevance to make pages quicker.
For websites to rank highly on Google, teams must guarantee that pages load quickly. Better rankings increase organic traffic, which is vital for businesses.
3. Conversion speed influences
Remember that Google penalizes slow-loading websites. More significantly, buyers and visitors will cease returning to such sites or will leave. This leads to lost income and fewer consumers.
Especially for e-commerce sites, A one-second delay reduces conversion by 7%. For example, a one-second delay may cost an e-commerce site $50,000 per day, or $1.28 million annually.
A quick website is essential for online company success. A quick loading website not only pleases users but also leaves a lasting impression on customers. Thus, every website developer and tester should prioritize page load speed. It should be on their priority list from the start of development sprint cycles.
Thank you...
 
I think it's important to remember that while speed is hugely important, both for site users to not be frustrated and for search engines to like you, chasing 100 scores on speed test sites is not a productive use of time and can lead to people actually damaging their sites usefulness and performance for real visitors.

It's a balancing act.
 
I know that the above is the often quoted line, but I actually don't think that first time visitors will be put off very much by an initial slowish, I'm not saying painfully slow, page load because they are probably curious enough to wait a second or two to see the content.

Instead I think that it is repeat site visitors who start to get pissed off with waiting for every page to open.
 
S4 Hosting said:
I know that the above is the often quoted line, but I actually don't think that first time visitors will be put off very much by an initial slowish, I'm not saying painfully slow, page load because they are probably curious enough to wait a second or two to see the content.

Instead I think that it is repeat site visitors who start to get pissed off with waiting for every page to open.
Click to expand...
Not many people think about returning visitors, this is exceptionally annoying for them it's good to think outside the box.
 
Website performance matters too much now and it has actually gone a little far after Core Web Vitals came. Performance is not just a requirement that helps with SERP ranking but it has also become a yardstick to measure the credibility and seriousness of the online business. This now reflects how much the online business is concerned about the digital experience of its customers.
 
Page speed or website speed refers to the time it takes a browser to load fully functional WebPages from any website. Users may abandon a website or page if it takes too long to load in their browser. Simultaneously, websites that load rapidly will attract more visitors, resulting in higher conversion rates.

Importance of Website Performance and Speed​

  • The first impression is the last
  • Impact on Google Ranking Directly
  • High speed ensures an impressive user experience
  • Speed affects the SEO rankings of a website
  • Speed affects conversions
  • Bounce rate
 
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Website speed is very important for traffic generation.If your website has a very fast loading then your website traffic will be more and also makes your website easy ranking in home page of the search engine otherwise people will upset and left your website and go to another website.
 
You want to rank your site on SERP or target your potential customers for ecommerce website. Speed is really important in both cases.

If your potential client visits your site and your site takes too long to load, they will never come back.
 
If you want speed then stay away from WordPress. I have had some bad experiences with the software slowing down a website no matter what caching I did.
 
StellaVPS said:
If you want speed then stay away from WordPress. I have had some bad experiences with the software slowing down a website no matter what caching I did.
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Over 15 years of working in WordPress and we ONLY work with WordPress clients for the past few years. Speed is not an issue, proper configuration and ideal hosting is the issue.

Excessive plugins drag a site down, but if you optimize things, you're perfectly fine.

Will it be as fast as a straight HTML site? Probably not, as you're querying a database for content, but like anything else, if you don't follow best practices you'll slow your site. I can make an HTML site CRAWL :)
 
Concur with bigredseo as this really depends on how the site is designed. Certain plugins on WordPress are resource hogs and that can negatively affect it's speed, but it's entirely possible to optimize any WordPress site - as well as HTML sites. Caching is NOT the sole solution to optimizing speed.
 
yes, web page speed matters...mostly in eCommerce sites
if your potential visitors is your customer then there are low chances to stay on the page and to wait for loading.
 
I’ve shared this a few times already, and I’m happy to share both my thoughts and general insights once again.

My point is this: website load speed and performance are extremely important. The faster your website loads, the better it will perform in search engines and the more visitors it will attract. As I recently learned, search engine bots also check how quickly a website loads, and this impacts its ranking. Therefore, speed directly affects your website’s visibility.

In general, studies show that higher speed leads to greater customer satisfaction. We live in a world where people don't even watch videos longer than 30 seconds (think Shorts or TikTok), so improving your site’s loading speed is essential. Customers don’t want to wait, and if there's a faster-loading site available, they may just choose it over yours.

Of course, there are many other important aspects to a website, like technical support, design, pricing, and customer service. However, it’s crucial not to underestimate the importance of site speed because it's one of the most significant factors in ensuring success.
 
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