Page load time is the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully display its content. It is a crucial factor for SEO, as it affects user experience, bounce rate, conversion rate, and ranking. In this article, you will learn how to measure page load time for SEO purposes, using different tools and methods.
Page load time matters because it influences how users perceive and interact with your website. A fast-loading page can improve user satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty, while a slow-loading page can frustrate users, increase bounce rate, and reduce conversion rate. Moreover, page load time matters because it is one of the signals that Google uses to rank websites, especially on mobile devices. Google has stated that page speed is part of its core web vitals, a set of metrics that measure the quality of the user experience on the web.
With such a high priority on speed from all search engines, web designers today are tasked with using several techniques in coding to minify files. The user experience expectations need to be at the top of your list when creating or optimizing your website.
Just an update in light of recent findings - page load time and site speed are hugely important to UI and conversion rates, but less of a factor when we're talking ranking. In fact, Google has recently (mid-April 2023) removed Core Web Vitals from their Google Search Ranking Systems Guide: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide While it's important, I don't think it's the ranking factor they've trained us to think it is over the years anymore: "Google Search always seeks to show the most relevant content, even if the page experience is sub-par." (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/page-experience)
We often focus on the design of the website and overlook the user interface, speed, and usability. I believe that nowadays, creating websites with CMS solutions is quite easy, but making them lighter and faster, as well as improving usability and accessibility, is a delicate task that requires careful attention and a solid strategy, despite the existence of online solutions.
Measuring page load time is important for understanding page speed performance and identifying areas for improvement. To do this, you can use online tools, such as Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and WebPageTest. Google PageSpeed Insights provides a score and suggestions for improving speed and user experience, while GTmetrix offers grades, recommendations, and insights. WebPageTest provides a comprehensive analysis with metrics, charts, and screenshots. All of these tools enable you to test from various browsers, devices, and locations, and simulate different network conditions.
Unlike the other contributions I prefer to measure performance based on real-world performance data pulled directly from the visitors to the website. Those tools are only an indicator and shouldn't be used for actual performance benchmarking.
I have found a couple very reliable online tools that provide you a quick snapshot of your website and page load speeds. In particular SEM Rush is my go to but google has come a long way in making all their analytical tools more customer friendly.
I really like SEMRush Audit function and GTmetrix. My advice is to give them all a try on a selection of the same pages to get a comparison of each systems analysis and reporting functions. Then it’s down to your personal preference. You’ll soon find one or two that fit your groove.
When launching a new website or conducting a website audit for a client with an existing site, our first priority is to test its loading speed. Slow loading pages can be incredibly frustrating for website visitors, and since page speed is a crucial factor in search engine rankings, it's essential to ensure that loading speed is optimized. To accomplish this, we utilize a variety of testing platforms, including GTMetrix, Pingdom, Google PageSpeed Insights, and SEMRush, among others. After testing for loading speed, we proceed to conduct a comprehensive range of other tests to ensure optimal website performance.
It's of importance to note that while these tools can offer specific suggestions and issues to fix, it can take a little more insight to understand the root of these problems and fix them for future content. There are hundreds of technical factors which are all weighted differently, akin to a multi-criteria decision analysis, when it comes to page speed analysis. It's important to look at all of the data available before making changes - it might be that the issue being shown in your tools might not actually exist for real-time usage of your website. Using a multitude of testing softwares and services can help to increase the reliability of your data, as you can compare the datasets directly and dive further into any discrepancies seen.
When measuring page load time, you should be aware of the different aspects that affect your SEO and user experience, such as time to first byte (TTFB), first contentful paint (FCP), largest contentful paint (LCP), and total blocking time (TBT). TTFB should be less than 200 milliseconds, FCP should be less than 2 seconds, LCP should be less than 2.5 seconds, and TBT should be less than 300 milliseconds. These metrics are important to ensure a good user experience and optimize your page loading speed.
Most good web developers use these guidelines while building websites. For people who choose to buy the inexpensive websites from your local media sales rep, I can assure you that people visiting your website will not have a great user experience. With all AI driven search engines, it’s imperative that any E-Commerce sites be build to top specifications.
Your page load time can be affected by a variety of factors, such as web hosting, code quality, images, fonts, plugins, and third-party scripts. To improve your page load time, you should optimize these factors and follow the best practices for web performance. Some of the most common ways to do this include using a fast and reliable web hosting service that can handle your traffic; minifying and compressing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files; optimizing and resizing images; using a content delivery network; enabling caching; deferring or asyncing JavaScript files; eliminating or minimizing render-blocking CSS files; using web fonts sparingly and loading them asynchronously or with a fallback font; and limiting or removing unnecessary plugins, widgets, or third-party scripts.
Each of these tools are the checklist of good website designers today before they are released to their clients. Its hard for for many people who see websites that are built by ‘tinkerers’ to fully appreciate the level of backend work and design that produces strong returns on your investment.
To improve page load time, focus on optimizing various factors like web hosting, code quality, images, fonts, plugins, and third-party scripts. Follow best practices for web performance, such as minifying and compressing files, optimizing images, enabling caching, and using a content delivery network. Additionally, prioritize deferring or asyncing JavaScript, minimizing render-blocking CSS, and being mindful of web fonts and unnecessary plugins or scripts. By implementing these strategies, you can enhance your website's speed and provide a better user experience.
Measuring page load time once is not enough, as it can vary depending on different factors, such as your website updates, your server load, your user behavior, and your competitors' actions. To keep track of your page speed performance and identify any issues or opportunities, you should monitor your page load time regularly and consistently. You can use tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, or Pingdom to monitor your page load time and get alerts, reports, and insights. You can also use tools like Lighthouse or CrUX Dashboard to audit your core web vitals and see how your website meets Google's standards for user experience.
You can and should use real user monitoring (RUM) tools. RUM tools collect data about the performance of a website or web application from the perspective of the end user. This data can be used to identify performance bottlenecks, track user engagement, and improve the overall user experience.
Your dashboard is something you can glance at anytime to provide not only visitors and conversations but also how each page is performing its functionality. That feedback provides you with user experiences.
I highly encourage everyone to understand how important their websites are to their business. The days of websites being an ancillary part of your business are over. AI provides a different set of standards to match the unlimited capabilities of digital experiences.