Why does site speed matter?

When a website loads slowly, it can cause negative user experiences, lower site traffic, and lower search engine rankings. The speed of a website is measured by how quickly a browser can load fully functional webpages from the site. According to a study performed by Portent, websites that load in one second have an astonishing 3x higher conversion rate (users completing a desired action) than those that load in 5 seconds. In our fast-paced culture, slow-loading sites can drive users away, while fast-loading sites will typically receive more traffic and have better conversion rates. 

Site speed is important not only because it affects conversion rates, but also bounce rates, SEO best practices, and user experience. Bounce rates (the percentage of users who leave a website after viewing only one page) are dramatically impacted by page loading time, as evidenced by reports like BBC’s, stating they lost 10% of users for every additional second of loading time. Users are likely to leave a website if a page does not load within a few seconds, and slow-loading pages create a bad user experience, which often results in the user growing frustrated and leaving the page. Furthermore, Google prioritizes site performance, especially on mobile devices, for SEO rankings. Therefore, improving site performance is a huge part of conversion rate optimization. 

Factors that affect site speed include page weight (load time), network conditions, and hosting location. Large resources like JavaScript files, video content, heavy CSS files, and high-definition images add significant load time to webpages. Even if a website is designed to be lightweight, it may not load quickly due to network slowness or the location of the hosting. These factors may still be improved utilizing techniques including minification, compression, and hosting content with a CDN. Measuring website speed is important, and website speed tests are available to identify elements of a webpage that slow it down.

Looking to learn more? We suggest heading over to Cloudflare’s Learning Center for an in-depth look at the importance of site speed.