Optimising web page speeds should always remain a top priority for website owners and developers. As technology progresses and evolves, we as consumers have grown more impatient and less tolerant of slow load times, which means we increase the likelihood for higher bounce rates and lower conversions as we are now less likely to wait for a single page to load.
With user experience and page being placed at the forefront of Google’s search ranking factors, it is imperative that fast load speed is considered in both the build and launch stages of your website.
Website speed will be the first impression you will ever make. From the moment a visitor lands on a web page, research shows that business owners have between 6 to 9 seconds to make an impression before they close your site’s tab and seek out a competitor. If your website takes on average 3 to 5 seconds to load, you immediately cut this impression time by half, and leave yourself with a very small window to impress.
Even if you have polished all other factors to perfection, a slow-loading website can easily negate all your efforts. So unless your website visitors are bound to the use of your site, don’t expect anyone to wait if your page speeds are slow.
But the effect of this exit doesn’t stop there – conversion rate is also another considerable factor that can be impacted by site speed. 40% of visitors will abandon a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load, and a 1 second delay in page response can attribute to a 7% decrease in conversion; that’s how important site speed is.