The importance of optimizing website speed

Introduction

Few people would question the necessity for a strong online presence in order to achieve any degree of business success these days, and with so much competition in the virtual space, there is really little room for anything short from excellence. A visually appealing and functional website can do miracles for any brand, but the advantage will be lost if the website runs poorly. A good website should look and perform equally well on all platforms, including Mac and PCs with different browsers, Android and iOS smartphones as well as tablets. Today, we’re going to briefly discuss why it is critical to optimize website speed.

What is website speed

Before providing the list of benefits of working towards an optimized website, a short explanation on what we consider website speed is in order. For the purpose of this article, website speed is understood as the time it takes to fully display content on a website. This measurement, as well as other useful information regarding website “health”, can be acquired through tools such as the free PageSpeed Insights by Google.

The benefits of optimizing website speed

Without further ado, let’s have a look at why it is worth devoting some time and resources to website speed optimization:

It affects your website’s ranking in search results

If our website is slow, there is a lower chance of it appearing high in Google search results, as the algorithm aims to provide not only the most accurate results, but also the best performing ones. If there is more than one website that provides the information the user is looking for, faster pages will likely appear higher on Google’s list.

It improves user experience

Nobody likes to view sluggish websites, even if they are good-looking. If it takes a while to perform the most basic activities due to page load time, the user is likely to look elsewhere sooner or later. On the other hand, if the website is responsive and operations can be performed quickly, it’s possible for the user to stop by every now and then.

It has an influence on your brand’s perception

Many elements combine into brand image, and a website is one of the most important ones, as it is often the audiences’ first encounter with a brand. It is the ID card of a company, especially if most business activity is conducted through online means.

It affects your conversion rate

Website speed greatly affects the conversion rate, so the value that shows how many users that visit a website complete their goal. Some say that a 4-second page load time is the absolute maximum, while others are more lenient with the threshold. Regardless of the exact number, if the loading takes too long, every next second is a substantial blow to conversion rate as users might be getting irritated with poor performance when interacting with the website’s elements.

It has an influence on bounce rate

Following the general definition provided by Wikipedia, bounce rate is the percentage of users that enter a website, then leave without viewing any subpages or otherwise interacting with the platform. The longer the person has to wait, the higher the chance he or she will leave in search for a more comfortable experience.

It influences the chance of your website being shared

When users are able to get what they want as quickly as possible, they are not only more eager to come back but also recommend the platform to others.

Conclusion

When it comes to websites, it is imperative to combine functionality, visuals and performance. Looks alone do not matter all that much if the performance is terrible. Hire a team of experienced professionals at createIT to bring your platform to new heights with optimized website speed.