Page Load Time

Let’s say you’re online to buy something new. You’re looking for a lamp, but not sure what kind of lamp or where to buy it; so, you load up Google and you enter in “lamp stores” and the name of your city. Google lists ten stores in response. You proceed to open all ten links in new tabs and quickly scan the pages of all the stores. Some of the pages load right away and some don’t. You close out all the tabs that take too long to load (disastrous for those businesses.)

Think about it… you’ve done everything right regarding SEO, and poor load time negates all your efforts – right at the goal line of prospect engagement. This is so typical and could be a major detriment to having your target audience find and read your link. Page load time is a huge issue.

You want your company’s pages to load instantly – to avoid being among those falling into the abyss; closed by potential customers, never to be thought of again.

Page load time is the time between your click on a webpage, and when it the entire page is appears through the browser. Just like potential customers, Google prefers fast-loading webpages. Their stated mission is: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” The keyword is “useful;” so fast page load time is critical to optimize (and make useful) your website.

Google prides itself on delivering a great user experience, and faster sites equal a better user experience. Since 2010, Google has used load time as a major criterion for website rankings. When Google launched “Google Instant,” they claimed their new search feature would save people about 2 to 5 seconds of search time. Attempts to improve page load time can get down to milliseconds. Amazon, for example, raised its revenue by 1% for every 100 milliseconds of load time they improved – wow!

Fast page load time is huge because, candidly – people are very impatient. It’s the nature of technology: all technology promises to make life easier, to save time. When technology fails to live up to that promise, the average person will not tolerate it. If you already have a well-loved blog, then you probably have enough fans willing to wait around those extra seconds to experience your great content. But why take the risk of a user losing patience? It’s best to do everything in your power to ensure a good user experience including fast page load time.

Good user experience is at the heart of what Google ranks. Google’s algorithm uses many criteria to determine how popular and useful a webpage is, like inbound links, return visitors, time spent on page, among other considerations. The best way to reduce page load time is to construct a “light” website. Accomplishing this means images need to be the correct size; hence, you need to have as little extraneous coding as possible. Additionally, all content must serve that page’s “point” which is the original reason the user clicked on that page. Like all else that is well-designed, your website needs to only contain what is necessary – nothing more, nothing less. Google likes it that way!

Thinking about updating your company’s Web Design and SEO? Contact MediaMark Spotlight to find out how we can help.