How long would you wait for a website to load?
Well, according to studies, 53% of us will abandon a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load!
This statistic could prove the argument that website speed does matter, but why else is it important?
First impressions count.
When someone visits your website, you want to create a great first impression, right? But if your website is taking long to load then over a half of people will leave, while the rest will be frustrated waiting for it to load! A slow website immediately creates a bad atmosphere, where your site visitors have a negative first impression of you. With these views, visitors are less likely to continue on your site and will associate you with a slow, unreliable site. A lot of people also seem to believe in the idea that if a website is fast, Surely its professional? This is the psychological idea behind a lot of visitors minds. So if you want to show you’re professional, a speedier site may be all you need.
Google!
So you might be thinking, why is Google a valid argument for the importance of web speed? Well, Website speed has a significant impact on Google. Google takes website load speed into account when ranking websites, meaning your slow site hinders your chances of ranking high on Google. Did you know, Google will reduce the amount of crawlers it sends to your site if your server is slower than two seconds! That’s two seconds! Any longer and your website will not be crawled efficiently by Google. ‘So what? Why does my site need to be ‘crawled’?’ – These questions may spring to mind, which is understandable, but these crawlers are so crucial because they also determine your Google ranking, and if your site shows up on Google. What are these ‘crawlers’? – Crawlers gather information on your site such as: how easy it is to navigate, how relevant your information is etc. So without your site being fully ‘crawled’ Google may not pick up your latest posts, your essential information etc. Which means you could be hiding your website from searchers.
UX
User experience is all about creating an amazing, simple site for your visitors with everything they need, which is why UX is firmly linked to website speed. With a slow site, you’re not providing a very good user experience. A fast website is the very best for user experience; the visitors can navigate around your site as quickly as they want and need.
Conversions.
Now let’s talk about conversions: if you were on the web and was about to make a purchase, but the site kept buffering and was slow would you still go through with the purchase? A lot of people wouldn’t trust the site and would empty their basket ASAP! So your site visitors will probably be no different. You need to gain your visitors’ trust, and something like speeding up your site could do just that. A 1 Second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions! Slow website = reduced conversions! So if you want to increase conversions and reduce exit rates, you need to have a site as fast as it can be.
Overall we can see a trend; website speed is essential to a successful site/business, so yes, website speed does matter!
Check your website page speed with Google Page Speed Insights.
Click Here. (ideally, you should be scoring above 85)
Need help with your website speed? Get in touch today!
01482 223469