Everyone wants their website to load fast. In fact, studies have shown that more than half of all visitors expect a website to load in two seconds or less and will just leave if it takes longer than that. If you want your visitors to stay on your site, you need to speed up the page load time and make sure it’s as fast as possible at all times. Here are five reasons why website speed optimization is important.
1) The user’s experience is damaged by slow load times
The user’s experience is damaged by slow load times. Their patience decreases, which can cause them to stop using the site entirely. This can lead to decreased loyalty, conversions, and sales. It can also result in a negative perception of your brand.
Just like with any other form of advertising, speed matters when it comes to webpages: just like with any other form of advertising, speed matters when it comes to webpages. If people have to wait for more than 10 seconds for a page to load on their mobile device or computer, then they will be tempted to abandon it altogether.
2) The search engines penalize slow loading pages
The search engines penalize slow loading pages, and with the massive shift to mobile devices, it’s important that your site is optimized for any device and browser. Your customer will abandon a webpage if it takes more than four seconds to load on their phone. Reducing load time by just one second can increase conversions by up to 20%. If you’re interested in website speed optimization, check out our blog post: 5 reasons why website speed optimization is important.
3) Longer load times mean lower conversion rates
Longer load times mean lower conversion rates, as users may get frustrated or give up if the site takes too long to load. The average website loading time is 3 seconds. Websites that take more than 10 seconds to load have a bounce rate of 67%. Sites with a low bounce rate have an average bounce rate of 22%. In order for your website to be successful and maintain a high level of engagement with customers, it needs to be able to load quickly and efficiently every time.
5) Being faster and more mobile friendly improves SEO
Slow page load times and clunky mobile sites are driving traffic away from websites at an alarming rate. If a website takes more than 3 seconds to load, 45% of users will move on to another site. The same percentage will leave if the site isn’t mobile-friendly. It’s not just about how fast your website loads – it’s also about the quality of content you provide.
4) Visitors are likely to bounce (quit your site) after three seconds
A study from Google revealed that visitors are likely to bounce (quit your site) after three seconds. Additionally, a Nielsen report found that 70% of shoppers said they would abandon their cart if it took more than four seconds to load. Even worse, 40% of people who experience this will never return to the website again. As such, you must ensure that your website is optimized for speed so that customers can easily browse through and purchase items on your site without experiencing any frustrations or problems.