Why Page Speed Matters to SEO and Online Marketing
Google has been considering page speed since 2010, and by July 2018 page speed was a direct ranking factor for mobile searches, so the importance of page speed should come as no surprise to anyone. Since then, technology has continued to improve, raising the bar on user expectations in the process. did.
June 15ththOn that day, Google released the Page Experience Update for mobile. It was intended to provide users with just that. In other words, his top-notch web pages that load very well on mobile devices while still providing the most relevant results for your search intent. The former has always been Google’s domain, but we planned to achieve the latter by considering several “page experience” signals when determining page quality. These signals included offering HTTPS for security, no intrusive interstitials, and most interestingly, mobile friendliness and Core Web Vitals.
Since then, the challenge of providing the most relevant content has also become a race to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible. So whether you’re using PPC or organic search, there’s never been a better time to check if your page speed is right. Let’s take a closer look at page speed and how it affects different channels of online marketing.
How does page speed affect SEO?
When it comes to organic search, it’s all about creating quality content around your keywords. But what good work can you do if it takes too long to load and your users never see it? In SEO, to be considered top ranking, you need quality content and fast loading We need both times. According to Google research, a page needs to load between 1 and 3 seconds before the bounce rate of the page starts to rise.
With the increasing use of mobile devices in search and the focus on mobile-first indexing, it’s important to create pages that are mobile-friendly. To understand how this is achieved, let’s look at what makes up a page speed score.
Understanding page speed with the Core Web Vitals report
Determining page speed is not as simple as measuring page speed until the page finishes loading. To understand page speed performance, Google’s Core Web Vitals look at certain aspects of how a page loads to determine how it affects the user experience. Testing your URLs with the PageSpeed Insights tool or looking at them in Google Search Console will give you information about three key metrics:
- of Maximum Content Paint (LCP) Refers to the largest element on the page that needs to load (images, videos, large blocks of copy, etc.).
- of First Input Delay (FID) Measures the time from when the user first interacts with the page (by clicking an element or link) to when the browser responds to that action. Long FID times can indicate that the technical aspects of your site may not be loading efficiently.
- At the end, Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) It accounts for any unexpected shifts in layout. These changes can also increase page load times and cause visitors to accidentally click the wrong thing.
Each of these items in the Page Speed report contains detailed information specific to that page and recommendations you can implement to improve page load times. These recommendations include estimated time savings to help you prioritize your plans to improve your pages.
Page speed and CPC
Since PPC bids for a position in the SERPs, you might think that this focus is only on organic search. If so, you would be so wrong. Your Ad Rank and Quality Score are also directly impacted by how quickly your page loads. Similar to organic search expectations for a page, in the PPC world, we look at specific metrics to assess a page’s Quality Score.
- of Expected CTR It helps determine the likelihood of an ad being clicked when it appears in the results.
- Ad relevance Measures how well a page matches a user’s search intent.
- And finally, Landing page experience We consider how relevant and useful the ad is to users who click on it.
A key part of the landing page experience is page load speed and efficiency. If a page takes too long to load, users may become frustrated and leave your site. The more this happens, the more behavioral signals are sent to Google indicating a poor user experience for your page, negatively impacting your Quality Score and Ad Rank. This will likely impact your revenue, increasing your advertising spend while your revenue decreases. Faster page load times can improve both your ad ranking and earnings.
Page speed and conversion rate
Conversions are the name of the game and why we are here. is why it exists and is a key performance indicator (KPI) for your website and its business goals. Competitive page load times are necessary if a web page has the potential to meet conversion goals.
According to Think With Google, page conversions can drop by 20% for every second of load time. As conversions drop, revenue can follow suit. This means that if a page converts $1 million and the conversion rate drops by 1% or 2% or more due to slow page load times, you can calculate how that will start to affect your revenue. I mean Page load times are no joke when it comes to online marketing, but investing in faster load times and efficiency might make your bank laugh.
How to improve page speed
The good news is that improving long page load times is the same process whether it’s SEO or PPC. Google Analytics and Search Console can give you performance information, but they can’t really tell you what’s wrong with your page load time or how to fix it.
The PageSpeed Insights tool is your best friend here. Websites often follow a template, so if a particular page on your site has slow page load times, it is assumed that other similar pages on your site have the same problem. Get all the samples and try each one in the PageSpeed Insights tool. Dig deeper into the results of each Core Web Vitals report to see what causes slow load times, so you can determine how it affects not just one page, but all other pages on your site that use the same template. It is useful for
Improving page load times requires working closely with developers. Depending on the nature of the problem, you should expect varying levels of effort and project implementation time. But fixing these issues over time is an investment that will help improve your organic rankings, ad spend, and revenue in the long run. please!