If you run a business on the web, performance is crucial.
We're obsessed with speed.
Page speed is a measurement of how long it takes for a web page’s content to load. There are two types of speed that can be referenced; either page speed which measures the time a page takes to fully display content or time to first byte which is the amount of time it takes for a browser to get the first byte of information from a server.
Page speed is a direct ranking factor for SEO. Beginning in 2010, Google announced that page speed on desktop devices would be a ranking factor. Fast to July of 2018, Google announced that page speed would be a ranking factor for mobile devices (correlating to their mobile first indexing initiative) and that the algorithm would roll out for all users. In May of 2020, Google announced that they will be releasing a core algorithm update focused on making page experience (user experience) a ranking factor. Google will announce the roll out of this change six months in advance for webmasters to prepare for, which implies it is going to be a big one. Now more than ever, with page speed being a direct ranking factor that will be part of a larger initiative in 2021, it is crucial to prioritize and optimize site speed as best as possible.
Google utilizes Page Speed Insights, Lighthouse, and Chrome User Experience Tools to understand a page’s/website’s speed. These tools generate a relative score for page speed and are available to webmasters to better understand the data collected from their site. They are useful tools to take recommendations on how to improve page speed as reported by Google.
The benefits include better ranking in the SERPS, improved bot crawling experience (influenced by load times), lower bounce rates, higher conversion rates, and better user experience.
You can improve page speed by enabling file compression, reducing redirects, removing render blocking resources, and optimizing images. You can also use Huckabuy’s page speed product — the first software product to increase your page speed performance score by 15-30 points.