Ryan Mitchell
Managing Director
The Impact Of Page Speed On SEO
(Source: SpeedBoostr)
47% of web users expect a web page to load in less than 2 seconds. And if a page doesn’t load within 3 seconds, an estimate of 40% of users will likely abandon the site. Speed is now a ranking factor when it comes to SEO.
The Page Experience Update by Google includes a focus on Core Web Vitals – with loading speed being a priority. Google evaluates the speed by measuring the performance of all areas of the website.
Core Web Vitals
As a part of Google’s update, the focus on the Core Web Vitals is to improve the overall user experience on a web page. The Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor is broken down into three main components.
Largest Contentful Paint
LCP is the time it takes for a page to load. To provide a friendly user experience, the recommendation is 2.5 seconds or less.
First Input Delay
FID is the time it takes for a page to become interactive. It measures the amount of time between when a user clicks on a button and when the page responds to the request.
Cumulative Layout Shift
CLS is the measure of a website’s stability. When a website loads, CLS is the time it takes for the website to stabilise from loading.
Defining Page Speed
Page speed is the time it takes for a web page to load. The load speed is determined by differing factors, including the site’s server, file size, and image compression.
With that being said, determining page speed isn’t as straightforward as it may sound. There are multiple ways to measure page speed.
Speed Measurement
Speed is relative. It depends on many factors, including the website’s performance, the server’s performance, the web page, the connection type, and more.
Page speed isn’t just a score, like how PageSpeed Insights represents it. Page speed is a web page’s loading time – which is measured in seconds.
PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights is a popular tool with SEO specialists that is powered by Lighthouse. In the past, PageSpeed Insights hasn’t had the best reputation, but as Google has recently updated it, it’s a lot better but also a lot harder to understand.
When you enter the page URL into PageSpeed Insights, the tool will return a page of some results with the website’s performance.
At the top of the page, there will be a general score, which is calculated based on an average of multiple factors. Below the fold of the page, detailed information will be provided about what is actually affecting the page speed.
Desktop vs. Mobile
Google gives two scores – one for the desktop version and one for the mobile version. At first, the tool only gave one score – for desktop. But as of 2018, more than 50% of search engine users search on mobile devices.
On the desktop version, the score may be higher because the connection speed is often faster. The website desktop version goes through the same testing as the mobile version, but it’s mainly the connection speed that differs.
Mobile is the first result shown when using the tool. The website is tested on a mobile connection, with likely a 4G connection. However, there are still many mobile users that only get a 3G signal, but despite the slower connection speed, it is still expected that a website should load fast.
As mobile devices tend to have slower connections, that’s why mobile comes first.
Improving Page Speed
A powerful content management system is not just important, but essential when it comes to improving a website’s page speed. We use Craft CMS for its user-friendly interface and customisable back-end.
Craft CMS Developers.
In our previous case study, Rebuilding Taylor Construction’s Website With Craft CMS, we dove deep into the benefits of using Craft CMS – scalability and freedom being the most evident.
As Craft CMS developers, we turn to Craft because it enables us to build robust and fast websites for our customers. We use headless architecture because it is designed with speed as a priority.
Traditional architecture was once a standard approach, but with Craft CMS headless architecture, responsive web pages and innovative content publishing is a growing reward.
If you’re considering making the switch, get in touch with us. We are Craft CMS developers and have spent a fair bit of time working with Craft and rebuilding websites through using its headless architecture, so it’s fair to say we know the in’s and out’s of Craft quite well.
Page Speed As A Ranking Factor For SEO
Improving page speed is important. But it is also important to remember that quality remains a priority in SEO, so optimising your Core Web Vitals and achieving a greater page speed score alone won’t guarantee an improved SEO ranking. Contact an SEO agency for help! The new Core Web Vitals algorithm signals that a shift towards a focus on user experience is ahead. Google is continually taking active steps to make optimisation easier.