As mentioned in the article about what really matters in SEO we mentioned that your website speed is really important.
When your website loads really fast, visitors have a great experience. They don’t have to wait a few seconds for your website to load which keeps them on your site longer.
In Portent’s 2022 study they found that a website that loads in 1 second has a 3x better conversion rate when compared to a website that takes 5 seconds to load.
Additionally, your conversion rate decreases by 0.3% for every additional 1 second that your website takes to load.
Therefore, improving the speed of your website is very important. But how can you do that? See some of our tips for improving your website’s speed.
Install a speed-improvement plugin
On WordPress website we have found that the best plugin for improving the speed of your website is WP-Rocket. It is very easy to use and you do not need any coding to set up and optimise your website.
Another option is to get dedicated WordPress Hosting for your website which uses optimisation on the server side to speed up your website. We achieved a 100 score on Google Pagespeeds with this approach:
If you have another type of website builder such as Shopify, Wix or Squarespace there are multiple plugins you can use to increase the speed of your website.
Optimise your images
Images are much bigger in size when compared to simple text which takes longer for your visitor to load. However, a website without images can look strange. Here are some things you can do:
Make sure your images are in the right format for the web. Formats like WebP and AVIF. These formats are optimised for websites and load faster on your site. On WordPress you can use the plugin “Converter for Media” or you can simply convert the images before you upload them to your website.
Insert the dimensions of your images so that they load in the right size when loading on the front-end of your website. This can also be done through WP Rocket.
Additionally, if you have very small elements on your website, don’t use massive images for this. Compress the images before you use them as an icon. Or look in your theme for icons you can use instead of images.
Use the right hosting company
Obviously using the cheapest website hosting company is not going to make your website fast. In fact, if you are using a shared website host that fill their servers with a lot of websites your website will be slow.
Choose a reputable website hosting company that knows what they are doing, that does not load their servers to the maximum they can, and that has great customer service.
One such company is PriorityOne. We use them for all of our websites and we get great speeds.
If your website is really big, like an e-commerce site, it could be better to get a dedicated server for it. This can ensure that a certain amount of processing power is reserved only for your website.
Optimise your videos
Videos are usually very big in size, especially if they are good quality or if it has been recorded with a modern camera. However, videos can be very important for your potential website visitors.
Additionally, Google released some functionality recently that allows you to customise the ways videos appear in search engines.
There are many ways that you can reduce the time it takes for videos to load on your website. Let’s look at a few.
Load a video thumbnail (a preview image) first. When the customer clicks to play the video, then let the video load. This will increase you page load time.
Also, you can let your videos load from a third-party app like YouTube. This reduces the strain on your own server and helps other elements to load faster.
Conclusion
Just increasing your website’s speed slightly can have a great impact on your SEO and Conversion Rate. So, pay attention to all the above elements and your customers will have a better experience.
If you would like my team to do it for you just contact us and we will provide you with a quote.
Other website speed stats
In Deloitte’s study, a study specifically aimed at eCommerce websites in Europe, focussed on mobile speed and the effect it has on sales.
They found that for a 0.1 second improvement in mobile speed, conversion rate increased by 8.4% and the average sale value increased by 9.4%.
What could it mean for your business if you increased your speed by a full second, or even a few seconds. This could be a game changer for you.
Would you like us to do the speed optimisation for you? Book a meeting.
Website speed FAQ
1. What is a Good Speed for a Website?
A good speed for a website is typically under 2.5 seconds. Faster load times are ideal, as they enhance user experience and positively impact conversion rates.
2. How Do I Check the Speed of a Website?
You can check the speed of a website using tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom. These tools provide comprehensive insights into your site’s performance and offer suggestions for improvement.
3. What is Website Speed Called?
Website speed is often referred to as “page load time,” which is the time it takes for a webpage to fully display its content to a user.
4. How Do I Fix My Website Speed?
To fix your website speed, start by optimizing images, leveraging browser caching, minifying CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, reducing redirects, and improving server response time. Using content delivery networks (CDNs) can also help.
5. Is the Speed of a Website Important?
Yes, the speed of a website is extremely important. It affects user experience, search engine rankings, conversion rates, and overall website performance.
6. How Do I Know if My Website is Slow?
You can determine if your website is slow by using speed testing tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights. Additionally, if your website takes more than 2.5 seconds to load, it is generally considered slow.
7. How Do I Make My Website Less Laggy?
To make your website less laggy, optimize image sizes, minimize HTTP requests, use asynchronous loading for CSS and JavaScript files, reduce server response time, and avoid excessive use of web fonts. Regularly monitoring and testing your website’s performance is also key to maintaining speed.
