How Page Speed Impacts SEO (and Why You Should Care)

We‘ve all been there – waiting impatiently for a sluggish website to load, watching the seconds tick by, wondering if it‘s worth the wait or if we should just hit the back button and try a different result. As a site owner, the last thing you want is visitors bouncing from your pages in frustration. But did you know that beyond irritating potential customers, slow speeds could also be hurting your rankings and organic traffic from search engines?

In this post, we‘ll take an in-depth look at how page speed affects SEO and why it matters for your website‘s success. We‘ll examine what the data shows in terms of speed‘s influence on rankings, as well as its ripple effects on user engagement, conversions, and more.

Plus, we‘ll share some best practices and tools for assessing and optimizing your site‘s performance. While page speed may not be the biggest Google ranking factor, it‘s still a crucial piece of the puzzle that deserves your attention. Let‘s dive in!

Google Confirmation and Ranking Factor Studies

First off, it‘s important to note that page speed is a confirmed Google ranking signal. They first announced it as a factor for desktop searches way back in 2010. Then in 2018, Google revealed that page loading time would be an even more important signal for mobile searches, with the rollout of their Speed Update.

While Google is notoriously tight-lipped about the specifics of its algorithm, they have hinted at the scope of speed‘s impact. In 2016, Google‘s Gary Illyes described it as a "teeny tiny factor" that acts more like a tiebreaker between pages that have similar relevance and authority metrics. Pages that are super slow may see more substantial ranking drops, but as long as you‘re in the average range, you probably don‘t need to obsess over milliseconds.

That said, various studies over the years have found compelling correlations between page speed and rankings. For example:

• A 2019 analysis by Backlinko discovered that the average time to first byte (TTFB) for a first page Google result was 1.65 seconds on desktop. Sites in positions 1-6 tended to load significantly faster than those in 7-10.
• Focusing on mobile performance, another 2019 study from Sistrix saw a similar speed pattern, with pages ranked #1 loading 20% faster than those in position #10.
• An oft-cited section from one of Moz‘s ranking factors surveys notes that "When other factors are equal, a site with better perceived page load speed may receive a higher score than a slower competitor." The keyword is "perceived" – which means user experience matters!

Of course, correlation doesn‘t equal causation, and top-ranking pages likely have many other signals in their favor. But the data does suggest that page speed provides a competitive advantage (or disadvantage), at least at the margins. If you‘re neck-and-neck with a rival, every little boost helps!

How Slow Speeds Sabotage User Metrics

The other key reason page speed matters for SEO? The collateral damage it can inflict on user engagement. A sluggish site doesn‘t just frustrate visitors in the moment – it can scare them away for good, tank your conversion rates, and skew the behavioral signals that Google is tracking.

Let‘s unpack a few ways slow loading undermines your other metrics:

Higher bounce rates: "Bounces" occur when a user views only a single page on your site before exiting. While bounces aren‘t an official ranking factor, they can indirectly hamper your SEO by reducing dwell time and increasing "pogo-sticking" back to the SERP (search engine results page).

Consider these bounce rate benchmarks from Google Analytics. If your site takes…

• 1 second to load, the probability of bounce is just 32%
• 3 seconds to load, the probability of bounce increases to 53%
• 6 seconds to load, the probability of bounce skyrockets to 106%

In other words, each additional second of load time compounds your bounce risk.

Fewer conversions: Just as critically, slow pages kill conversions. Would-be customers or leads won‘t stick around to make a purchase, fill out a form, or subscribe if the site is still spinning.

One case study from Mobify found that each 100ms improvement in their homepage‘s load time worked out to a 1.11% uptick in session-based conversion. Similarly, retail giant Walmart discovered that for every 1 second improvement, they experienced up to a 2% conversion increase.

This phenomenon makes sense when you look at the latest page speed benchmarks for top ecommerce sites. According to a 2023 analysis from Contentsquare, the median load time for ecommerce is just 1.8 seconds. In other words, if you can‘t keep pace with your competitors, you‘re likely leaving money on the table.

Damaged brand perception: Finally, there‘s the less quantifiable impact on how visitors view your brand. Countless studies have shown that slow-loading sites create negative first impressions and erode user trust.

For instance, a 2018 Unbounce survey revealed that 45.4% of respondents were less likely to buy from a brand in the future if they had a poor experience with slow loading pages in the past. And 36.8% said they view brands with slow websites as less professional or credible.

While this battered brand perception may not show up directly in your SEO, it has a cumulative effect. Annoyed visitors are less likely to return, link to your content, or recommend you to their networks. Over time, that means you‘re missing out on potential ranking signals like repeat traffic, backlinks, and positive reviews.

Core Web Vitals and Page Experience Signals

Beyond these indirect SEO consequences, page speed also feeds into Google‘s official Page Experience update, which was released in 2021.

A key component of the update is the set of metrics known as Core Web Vitals. These user-centric signals measure the real-world loading, interactivity, and visual stability of your pages. The three Core Web Vitals are:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures perceived load speed and marks the point when the page‘s main content has likely loaded. An ideal LCP is 2.5 seconds or faster.

2. First Input Delay (FID): This quantifies interactivity and responsiveness. It measures the time from when a user first interacts with your page to the time when the browser is actually able to respond to that interaction. A good FID is less than 100 milliseconds.

3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This sums up the shifting of page elements during loading. A low CLS helps ensure that users don‘t accidentally click on moving targets like buttons. You want your CLS to be less than 0.1.

So where does page speed fit in? Well, your overall load times will directly affect your LCP (and to some extent your FID and CLS). Faster pages will generally lead to better Core Web Vitals scores.

All that said, it‘s worth keeping the Page Experience update in perspective. Google has emphasized that relevance and quality are still the top ranking factors. Even if your Core Web Vitals need work, you can rank well by focusing on great content and building authority.

Think of it like the healthy icing on an already tasty cake. Optimizing for Page Experience is most impactful when you‘re already nailing the SEO fundamentals.

Tools and Tips for Improving Page Speed

Feeling motivated to assess your site‘s speed? There are plenty of helpful tools for testing performance and diagnosing issues. Some of the most popular include:

• PageSpeed Insights: Google‘s official tool analyzes your page and provides recommendations to improve Core Web Vitals and overall speed.
• GTmetrix: Tests your pages from a real device and breaks down loading metrics like time to first byte, total blocking time, and total page size.
• WebPageTest: Allows for highly customizable testing and comparison views to chart your optimizations over time.
• Chrome User Experience Report: Shows real-world speed data for your site or specific URLs, based on aggregate information from Chrome users.

Once you have a baseline, where should you focus your efforts? Here are some of the most impactful optimizations:

1. Upgrade your hosting: A slow server will bottleneck your loading no matter what. Invest in reputable hosting with proven performance.

2. Implement caching: Caching stores copies of your content, so the server can send the lighter files to visitors and preserve resources.

3. Use a content delivery network (CDN): CDNs distribute your website files across a network of global servers, reducing the physical distance between visitors and your content.

4. Optimize your images: Compress, resize, and use modern file formats like WebP to shrink your image payloads without sacrificing quality.

5. Minify your code: Remove any unnecessary characters or formatting from your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to slim down your pages.

6. Reduce redirects and plugins: Each redirect or plugin creates an additional trip between the browser and the server. Streamline where possible to eliminate delays.

While this may seem like a lot, don‘t get overwhelmed! Start with the low-hanging fruit, and chip away at speed improvements over time. Even small gains add up.

Don‘t Forget What Moves the Needle Most

We‘ve covered a lot of ground on how page speed impacts SEO, from its influence on rankings to its ripple effects on user experience and engagement. But as you evaluate your priorities, keep in mind that page speed is still just one piece of the puzzle.

To really move the needle on your organic traffic and conversions, you can‘t neglect the meat and potatoes of SEO: quality content, keyword relevance, backlinks, and a great overall user experience. A fast site with thin or irrelevant pages still won‘t thrive in search.

So where does that leave page speed? Think of it as a tiebreaker and trust-builder. When you‘re going head-to-head with competitors on content, every technical advantage matters. And when it comes to winning over visitors, a snappy first impression can be the difference between a loyal customer or a lost lead.

In the wise words of Google‘s John Mueller, you have to "find the right balance" with page speed. Obsess over it in isolation, and you might miss the forest for the trees. But overlook it entirely, and you could be leaving valuable SEO opportunities and revenue on the table.

By understanding the nuances of how loading and performance feed into rankings, visitor behavior, and ultimately conversion, you can adapt your strategy to make page speed a powerful lever in your SEO toolbox. Faster loading is a worthy investment, even if it‘s not the only one. After all, not much beats that satisfying feeling of a quick-as-a-whip website.