Site speed is important in 2018. It is impossible to overstate how important site speed is for your overall Digital Marketing Services and web presence. It has a significant impact on SEO rankings for desktop and mobile devices (especially now that Google is introducing its mobile-first index), on paid ads with their effect on the quality score on Google, and the overall user experience.
Slow websites are likely to have low conversion rates, high bounce rates, and low pages per visit. A slow website will cause people to leave because they don’t have the patience to wait until a page loads. It is especially important when there are many conversion pages on the website. When a conversion funnel is long and has many pages and steps, there is always a drop-off. But when your website is slow, and you have a complex conversion funnel, the drop-off increases.
We’ll examine the impact of site speed on multiple digital channels.
The Impact of Site Speed on SEO
Site speed is an important ranking factor, and it’s even more so for mobile devices. Google will be rolling out its Mobile First Index in July 2018. This means that now is the best time to optimize your mobile site so you don’t lose out when the index is officially launched. We have seen how site speed directly impacts our clients’ organic traffic and SEO rankings.
Site speed is an important ranking factor because it’s a sign that the user is getting a good experience. A faster site speed results in a more positive user experience. Users tend to stay on a website longer when it is faster. They also convert better and bounce much less. Google made site speed a ranking consideration for these reasons.
Three to four seconds is considered a good load time. It varies depending on the site type and industry, but if you can load your pages in less than three to four seconds, then you are doing well. As soon as you surpass this load time, your rankings and user experience will suffer. If we could reduce the page speed to under three to four seconds, we’d likely see better rankings.
This is something we have experienced firsthand with a client. The client’s developer removed the site speed optimizations that we implemented on their website. After the optimizations had been removed, the website went from having a four-second load time to one that took 12 seconds. Rankings plummeted. We updated the site again with the correct site speed optimizations, and the rankings rose.
It was clear that the site speed directly relates to your marketing strategy and keyword rankings. It’s rare to see SEO results in real-time. SEO is a race that takes place slowly and steadily. However, we were able to observe the impact on rankings in just a couple of days after removing and re-implementing site speed optimizations. This was a good experiment because we knew that site speed had an impact on SEO. But this showed how much Google values it from a desktop and mobile search perspective.
Site speed has a positive impact on the user experience of other digital channels, such as paid search.
The Impact of Site Speed on Paid Search
Quality score is what determines the cost-effectiveness of your keyword bidding. In paid media, the quality score is how Google views your landing page in relation to a particular search term. It also looks at user experience. Google perceives slow site speed as a bad user experience, which will lower your quality score.
The quality score is what determines the cost per click (CPC) you will pay and how high your position will be on the SERP. It’s very difficult to appear in the first two SERP positions if you have a poor site speed/quality rating. Depending on the competitiveness of the keywords, you may not even show up at all. Your ads will not appear if you have a quality score that is too low. As you can see from the above, quality score has a major impact on PPC.
A low load time will also result in a lower conversion rate and a higher bounce rate, which are two things that you do not want to happen when trying to generate sales or leads.
The quality score is the most important metric to consider when it comes to PPC. This will ensure that your ads perform at their best. A higher quality score will result in a better ad placement and lower click costs. You can expect a higher quality score, lower costs, and a higher ranking with a faster site.
The Impact of Site Speed on Social Ads
Facebook, like Google, favors a faster site when it comes to displaying ads. Facebook, like Google, wants you to see the best results for your interests.
Facebook made an algorithmic update to its site speed in August 2017. This was done with the goal of improving user experience. We’ve already discussed that the faster the site, the more user-friendly it is and the better its performance. Facebook has announced that the site speed and overall user experience will determine whether your ads are prioritized. Many factors influence Facebook’s social ads algorithm. However, fast loading speeds control the priority of the newsfeed.
The Impact of Site Speed on User Experience and Sales
Site speed is important for a variety of digital marketing channels. However, it’s the user experience and conversion that really matter. The user experience is a factor in SEO, Paid Search, and Paid Social. Site speed plays a role in the user experience.
Site speed is one of the main reasons why people leave websites. A bounce is someone who does not view more than one web page before leaving a site. The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to your website who go immediately. Slow-loading sites will cause people to leave the site. It is because of this that slow sites have a high bounce rate while faster sites have a lower one. It is important to remember that bounce rate also affects SEO relevance. Therefore, it is best to make a low bounce rate a priority.
Site speed is also a major factor when it comes to conversions. If people bounce due to a long load time, then they are not converting. This is true, especially if you have a long checkout or conversion process. Each page that is required to convert increases the chances of a drop-off.
If your site takes longer to load, it will give them more time to make a decision. To better guide people on their conversion path, it’s best to catch them during their purchasing decisions by having a site that is fast and easy to navigate.