Running a website test is important to get a good sense of your current website speed and detect core issues for improvement. Low website speed is one of the most frustrating problems that no webmasters and visitors expect to experience. Not only does it cost you money but also damages your reputation. Reducing the page load time has a positive impact on marketing and sales processes. To be more specific, you’ll get higher traffic and conversion rate. In this article, we discuss how important website speed optimization is and how to do it.
Why is website speed optimization important?
Website speed optimization plays an important role in boosting on-site conversions and SEO. The fact is that a faster site is more appealing to both users and search engines. Website users now are not patient enough to wait for your web to load. If your web doesn’t load quickly, then they are likely to leave for the other. According to Google, the percentage of a user bouncing increases by 32% if the site load time is 1-3 seconds. When users quickly exit a slow site, the chance for the brand to engage the audience with high-quality content or to drive valuable conversions is slim to none. Thus, it’s also important to keep an eye on your website speed by running a website test regularly.
Search engines prefer fast-loading websites. Google has stated that site speed has a direct impact on search rankings. Search engines prefer to rank high for a fast-loading website as it provides a great experience for their users. Thus, to attract search engines, a site should always incorporate page speed SEO into their strategy.
Factors affected by website speed
If your website test results are not good as it should be, then it might be the time for optimization. Websites with slow speed sometimes make it impossible to open a web page. Not only does it turn away visitors but also has a great effect on your business overall.
Below are there key factors a slow website can impact:
Conversion
Conversion is the percentage of visitors to your website that complete a desired goal. In other words, it gets more value from visitors and users you already have with few customer acquisition costs. For example, they will submit a form, register a course, or buy your product.
The faster load page contributes to the higher conversion rates. The study of Hubspot showed that the 1-second delay leads to a 7% drop in conversions. For example, a page slowdown of 1 second could cost Airbnb $1.0 billion in sales each year.
Visibility
Your website test results also affect how easily the Internet users search for your website. Why? Website speed is one of the key factors that Google looks at when ranking sites. A low-performing website, of course, fails to meet user expectations and satisfaction and as a result, gets less promoted in search results.
Usability
Website usability like website page speed has a direct impact on customer loyalty. The faster your website loads, the more satisfied a user will be. Great user experience is a way of building a large customer base and a strong brand.
Ways to run a website test
Before taking any steps for speed optimization, you should be aware of your current loading time and figure out what causes your site to load slowly. The next step is to set your website performance goals. The recommendation for page load time is to be under 3 seconds. It’s sad but true that just a fraction of websites is close to their recommended speed, according to Google.
So, if you run your website test and find it slower than usual, you should optimize your website speed to an acceptable level, you will get a significant ranking advantage over competitors.
The ways of website speed optimization are various, sometimes the solution to one problem can have a negative impact on another aspect of your site. That’s why you are recommended to test the website speed after each change to determine what actions deliver the best results.
There are several tools that help evaluate website performance:
- Google Pagespeed Insights by Google runs a website test on both desktop and mobile versions to reveal how your site is performing. It also gives suggestions on how to improve performance.
- MySpeed is also a great tool for website speed testing with a wide range of amazing features. It gives you not only an in-depth analysis of your website speed but also recommendations to enhance the performance of the page and summarizes all components.
- Pingdom tracks your website’s performance history, makes data-driven recommendations on how to improve the website speed, and generates easy to understand reports.
- Performance Budget Calculator is a free tool that helps figure out what type of content you can use to keep your site running optimally.
Conclusion
A website test is something that should not be overlooked because it gives you a complete picture of your site performance. You can pick one of those tools above to complete the task without any hassle. Through the test, you will find out shortcomings on your website, what slows down your website and how to improve your website speed.
>>> also see: The Broadband Speed Test- Everything You Need to Know
