Why website load speed matters

Why website load speed matters

There is nothing more frustrating than navigating a website with a poor load speed or inadequate performance. Every aspect of our daily lives is fast paced, and a rapid, effortless user experience is essential to stay ahead in the business world of today.  

A website’s load speed is crucial to your online presence, conversion rates and even sales and it has a major impression on SEO rankings. All top website design companies will tell you that slow websites all have low conversion rates, high bounce back rates and unimpressive amounts of visits per page.

For your website to lead your digital presence, you need to avoid this at all costs:

1. First impressions always count

Your website speed is the first impression you will make. It is vital that your customers (or readers) make a positive instant judgement about your business. In your customers’ minds, you are efficient, trustworthy and confident if your website proves to be professional and reliable.

2. Your Users’ experience

One of the few ways you can set your website apart from others is through your users’ experience. With an efficient website load speed, this can be achieved by giving your visitors what they want and giving it to them quickly.

3.  Website speed effects your Google ranking

Google takes website speed into account when ranking websites with a very small ‘signal’. This means that the average website won’t see much change but if your website lags, you will suffer. If your server is slower than two seconds, the chances that Google will pick up your content (or any other relevant changes) are slim and this could be harmful to your ranking.  

4. Your site’s speed impact on paid searching

Google views a slow website’s speed as a poor user experience which in turn, brings down your quality score. When it comes to pay per click advertising (PPC), paying the most affordable rate for your keyword bidding is determined by your quality score. In paid media terms, your quality score is determined on how relevant Google finds your website’s landing page to a search term.

Your quality score determines what your cost per click is and your average position on the Search Engine Results Page. With a slow website speed or quality score, it will be hard for your website to show up in the top positions on the Search Engine Results Page. Your ranking also depends on how competitive the keywords are.

At WSI New Media, we will help you to benchmark your website and to improve it. We will analyze your website’s performance, eliminate all unnecessary elements ‘weighing’ it down and, optimize your website to ensure that you have the best and most efficient website speed to stay ahead of your game.

Contact us today for more information.