Website Load Speed

What is Website load speed? The time it takes for a web browser to get the website information from the web server is called site load speed. The speed of the web server and the webpage load time are called ” site performance “. Site performance is a ranking factor for SEO and also is how to attract potential customers in general digital marketing. If a webpage takes too long to load, users aren’t going to trust it much or want to wait and will click the back button.

Websites can still rank with horrible website load speeds, I have seen it, but will need to have good SEO factors to do so. For mobile ranking, page load time is a factor, so slower webpages will not rank as well as faster webpages. This is why Google create AMP, and why if you care about keyword ranking, your website needs to have AMP Optimization. AMP webpages are webpages for mobile, with reduced code and filesize. Google created a specialized mobile framework call AMP, Accelerated Mobile Pages to help speed up the mobile search landscape.

Whats the difference between website load speed and webpage loadspeed? Not much, websites for the most part use the same header information, which has all the extra files needed to display a webpage. When website load speed is being talked about, it’s normally talking about the whole site’s general load speed. Webpage load speed is more about just that webpage and any extra web elements that might be causing extra load time, big images or video will often be the problem.

Website Performance Impacts SEO

When webpages load slow, conversion rates are also reduced, not to mention searchbots will also be slowed if not stopped completely. Everything from website indexing, to content relevance relies on fast webpage load speeds so searchbots can crawl, and index webpages, to even measure content relevancy and rank search terms. When a website is slow to load, organic traffic suffers and doesn’t rebound until fixed. Adwords won’t even save you if adwords landing page is on your website, you’re paying for a 2 line article then to represent your business.

What can cause high webpage load speeds?

• Unoptimized Images – Too large filesize
• Uncompressed Videos – Videos are big files, compress videos or don’t use them
• Too Many Web Elements – Too many file requests cost extra load time
• Too Many 404 Pages – If the url isn’t available, that’s a problem
• 301 Redirect Issues – if the url path isn’t clear, neither is your crawl path.
  • 301 Redirect Loops – 301 loops become 404 pages basically
  • Long Redirect Chains – The extra time going to urls that aren’t live anymore can cost time, shorten 301 redirects to prevent added load speed time.
• Poor Web Design – When web elements load in the wrong order or are broken, it can slow down or prevent searchbots and users alike.
• Poor Website Development – When website reference files don’t load or code is broken, the website just will not function as intended.

PageSpeed Insights Showcases Problems

Simple put, if you aren’t using Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool, to check webpage load speed issues, then you’re missing out now. It uses lighthouse audit info now, and can give you a very accurate understanding of what is loading on the webpage and what to improve. Using this in conjunction with tools like Pingdom website speed tester can give you the information to improve load speed. The only issue with these tools are, they can be very technically heavy on terms used. Not to mention some of the solutions needed to fix some load speed issues are not for the non-technically savvy.

With a good strategy of problem finding, developing solutions and implementation plus monitoring, your website has a fighting chance against the page 1 competitors.