What is site speed?
Site speed refers to how fast your website loads across different devices and how quickly users can see and interact with your content. In a world that never stops and where time is of the essence, users are appreciating a fast loading website like never before.
It is the difference between a frustrated user impatiently clicking off your site before it loads and one who returns time and time again due to a positive experience. Fast and efficient upload speed plays an important role in your business becoming the user’s brand of choice.
why is site speed important?
Research shows that 47% of people will not wait longer that two seconds for a web page to load. This means that you literally have seconds to secure visits to your site. Fail to optimise for site speed and you risk tarnishing your brands image as well as losing out to competitors on traffic and potential sales.
Provide a good site speed however, and you’ll soon reap the below benefits that you get from having a fast loading site.
Benefits of a fast loading website
1. it contribute to good user experience
A fast loading website helps to form the first impression of your business. And as we all know, first impression count. Sites that take a long time to load will not only deter a user from visiting again but will also lead to the user having a negative experience with your brand.
2. It helps improve SEO rankings
As one of many signals that Google takes into consideration when ranking a website, a fast loading site will help give your brands organic presence a boost. If you site fails to meet what is deemed a ‘good’ site speed, then you risk undoing any other optimisation efforts as well as experiencing a drop in your rankings.
3. it helps to increase conversion rates
The faster your website is, the higher the conversion rate will be. When pages load in 1 second, the average conversion rate is 39%. At a 2-second load time, the conversion rate drops to 34%. And at 5 seconds, the conversion rate drops even further to 22%. This shows just how important it is to have a fast site speed in order to secure online sales.
4. It reduces bounce rate
Reducing your bounce rate helps to keep visitors on your website. And one way to ensure that happens is to have a speedy site. If a user can easily access your website and find what it is they are looking for, you increase the likelihood of them continuing to browse through your content or even making a purchase.
The longer people stay on your site, the lower the bounce rate will be. A low bounce rate signals to search engines that your site is not only user friendly but meets the users intent. Further helping to boost your online visibility.
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