SEO rankings are no longer just about which keywords you have on your website. Today it uses an algorithm that changes daily and one of the metrics now being monitored is how quickly your page loads, or page speed. Page speed is simply how long it takes for a specific page on your site to load and display all content.
Each page has various elements that need to be loaded in a certain order as they support each other. If a page hosts a portfolio of images or videos, it may struggle to load at the same speed as your other pages. This is why pages optimized for search engines focus on providing high-value content that loads quickly, essentially the perfect snapshot for Google to see.
Is Page Speed Really That Important?
Absolutely. If you’ve ever been on a company’s website just sitting there waiting to view their page, you understand the frustration behind slow load times. We tend to only give a website 15 seconds on average to provide us with enough quality content to keep us viewing. The toughest 1/4 of us will only give a site three seconds to load which means high bounce rates and lost effort in SEO.
Google first started including page load speed into their index and search rankings in 2010 before increasing its importance again in 2017. The latter also put a focus on mobile-friendly pages, or mobile-first, which separated desktop and mobile versions of the same websites. Optimizing a website for mobile is something a business can not ignore as it can drive away a large portion of online customers.
What Should I Avoid if I Want Faster Page Speed?
Working with a web design team will help ensure that your page speed is as fast as possible, but there are still some steps you can take to help manage personal sites or small changes you want to make on your own. The biggest killer of page load speed tends to be high-resolution images that, while showing off an impressive picture, take a lot of time to travel from the server to the viewer’s device.
Leaving unused pieces of code or assets lying around can cause undue load time increases as well. If you’ve been trying out a new tool or widget on your site, make sure you check that everything was cleaned up on the way out. When these partial code blocks are left, they can cause the page to get caught up attempting to initialize or use the code.
Speaking of unused code, it’s important to make your site as lightweight and accessible as possible. Jarring motion effects or multiple scripts that cause the page to act in random ways is a novelty best left in the 90’s as it only serves to increase page load times and fails to keep user attention. Maximize your page speed and user experience with Kick Digital Media by visiting us online today.