Page load time is a major factor that will affect how you get customers to either stay or leave your site. Search research experts have done extensive studies regarding this, and they have found that the best desktop and mobile sites load in less than a second and a half. With this, it’s easy to conclude that pages with quicker load times are placed high in search engine rankings.
Getting there
Moz has specified this further by saying that load time isn’t the factor, but the time it takes your browser to receive the first byte of data from the sites web server, or “time to first byte” (TTFB). They pointed out that TTFB had a strong correlation effect, which would indicate that it’s an influencing factor with significant weight in search rankings.
It wouldn’t hurt to improve your TTFB and overall site speed. Apart from adding a possible factor to help increase your site’s search position; a fast and responsive site will always encourage site visitors to stay on your site longer. It would lessen the chances of them looking elsewhere for the same thing that you have.
Rating your site
Run a quick test to find out your backend site’s speed and overall performance. Use the free tool at Webpagetest.org. Get a second opinion at Pingdom.com as well; it can identify slow-loading issues that you need to focus your attention.
The loading speed would be a reflection of conversion and selling speed
As mentioned earlier, a fast-loading site would keep visitors. A slow-loading site would annoy a first-time visitor, and they would make them leave and look for a competitor, even long-time customers would do this. Fewer visitors means fewer leads that also means fewer sales. And another important factor in rankings is website traffic. If you start losing traffic, you’d also start losing in rankings.
Financial Times published a study that shows that increasing load times create a downtrend in page-per-session views. Meaning, no matter how good the content you produce, it would mean nothing if your site is slow. Value your content by placing importance on the speed of your site.
Step on the gas
The websites we mentioned above are just akin to checking your temperature with a thermometer. You can find out that something is wrong, but you can’t do anything about it. If you can’t handle the technical sides to it, you can reach out to the best Internet marketing company to help you with the nitty-gritty parts.
All in all, a website that loads fast will add up to better results via search and even a better experience for users. The best part is that speeding up your site wouldn’t be difficult or expensive.
