How to Improve Website Loading Speed? Three Major SEO Strategies to Prevent Massive Loss of Potential Customers

2021 / 09 / 24
Do you think everything is settled once your website is built? Of course not. There's follow-up work, and the top priority is "testing if the website speed is fast enough."

Generally, website speed affects the efficiency of search engine crawlers in indexing page content, which in turn impacts the site's SEO ranking in search results. Furthermore, if users have to wait too long for the site to load, they are likely to close it immediately, causing you to lose these potential customers.

How Much SEO Loss Does One Second of Website Slowness Cause?


In fact, as early as 2010, Google officially announced that "site speed is one of the factors affecting search ranking." Then in January 2017, Google explained "What is Crawl Budget" on its official blog, detailing that search engine crawling capacity is limited and there's a cap on how much data it crawls from each site.

Simply put, search engines allocate fixed time and resources daily to crawl websites. If slow loading speeds prevent crawlers from accessing the site, they will leave. Therefore, ensuring search engines can smoothly crawl and understand your site data is crucial for SEO effectiveness.

Slow website loading speeds affect more than just SEO ranking; they also impact bounce rate, conversion rate, average order value, and page views:

Surge in Bounce Rate: According to Radware, a 1-second delay in page load time can increase the bounce rate by approximately 32%.

Plummeting Conversion Rate: Amazon found that every 0.1-second improvement in page load time increased conversion rates by 1%.

Loss of Brand Trust: 30% of users are dissuaded from returning by speed issues, meaning 3 out of every 10 potential customers could be lost permanently.

Thus, whether for SEO needs or user experience demands, improving website loading speed is absolutely the primary task after website development!

How to Assess Website Loading Speed? Never Rely on Perception


When testing website loading speed, never judge based on feeling. Firstly, internet speeds vary by region, environment, and even electronic device. Some users on fiber-optic broadband might load the site instantly, while others on poor WiFi signals might take tens of seconds. Secondly, your perception of speed might not align with Google's assessment.

Therefore, we need tools to diagnose website speed:

Tool 1: Google PageSpeed Insights

This tool, launched by Google, is user-friendly and provides concise information, helping webmasters quickly identify factors affecting site speed.

Tool 2: YSlow

YSlow is a browser plugin from Yahoo that offers more comprehensive information than Google PageSpeed Insights. If PageSpeed doesn't pinpoint the cause or you need more detailed data, consider using YSlow to diagnose loading speed issues.

Tool 3: WebPageTest

If you seek a tool providing even more detailed data, WebPageTest can identify the reasons for slow speed and suggest improvements. It lists the loading speed of all site resources and compiles a complete report. This tool is officially recognized by Google. However, interpreting WebPageTest reports requires a deeper understanding of web development and SEO technical basics.

How to Improve Website Loading Speed? Three Major SEO Strategies to Prevent Massive Loss of Potential Customers


An SEO Speed Revolution, from Basic to Advanced: Numerous methods can address slow website speed. Below are three common approaches for your reference:

Enable GZIP Compression

Enabling GZIP compression can reduce website file sizes by up to about 70%, without affecting content, structure, or image quality.

Store CSS and JavaScript as External Files

When users navigate between different pages, browsers reload CSS and JavaScript files, increasing load times. Storing them as external files allows browsers to cache these resources, loading them only once for subsequent pages with the same styling.

Utilize Caching and CDN

Using CDN technology effectively optimizes the delivery speed of images and page resources, reduces server load, and ensures fast global response and loading for site images. Additionally, many open-source CMS platforms offer various caching plugins to optimize loading speed. Choose suitable plugins based on your website's specific needs.

In summary, ensuring your website loads as quickly as possible provides users with a fast, smooth experience, enhancing your site's SEO ranking in search engines and improving brand impression and conversion rates. If your site suffers from slow loading speeds affecting SEO, and you've struggled to identify the cause, feel free to contact us directly. Let's transform your site from "Loading..." anxiety to "Instant Access" delight!

Phone: 852-3749 9734

Email: info@hkweb.com.hk

Website: https://hkweb.com.hk

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