Importance of Speed Optimization for SEO and Lead Generation

1. The Significance of Speed Optimization for SEO

As we have mentioned before, user experience is one of the key factors for success in the digital world. It is a top priority for any search engine to deliver results that do not put off users. Attention spans are getting shorter, so the algorithm doesn’t wait for you to take your time and load at your own pace!

Lots of people believe that it is the relevancerelevancy of the topic that is the key to SEO and being at the top of the algorithm, and that is right. However, what is the chance that the user is specifically looking for your website? Relevancy can only get you so far if there are multiple tabs opened and yours is the last to load.

Every search engine out there emphasizes the importance of speed optimization for SEO and lead generation and in response, any worthy SEO company has speed optimization at the top of their checklist.

In a nutshell, SEO depends on lots of different factors to work, but what makes website performance test so necessary in the process, is that almost every other factor also depends on the speed of your website.Who cares if the service is good if you have to wait an hour to get it?

2. How Speed Optimization Boosts Lead Generation

Simply put, lead generation is the art of attracting potential customers and turning them into paying ones.  Every search engine is developed by a company and where there is a company there is competition. 

First impressions are always important. Your website has about 5 seconds to make a good one. This is why applying techniques for speed improvement is one of the top priorities of any SEO company.  

There wouldn’t be so many tools for speed measurement and site speed tests online to check website speed if it wasn’t a huge factor in user satisfaction. A simple search of the term ‘website speed’ in Google Blog results in more than 1500 results! which just shows how important website optimization is for your website.

There are also case studies from major companies that show the difference speed makes in conversion rate.

• Walmart stated decreasing a single second in the loading time of their website resulted in a 2% conversion rate. 
• Amazon former engineer Greg Linden, says that every 100 milliseconds that it took the website to load, it costs 1% of sales.   
• According to Yelp, an increase in website performance, raised their conversion rate by 15%.
• There is an article by eBay about how simple monitoring and maintenance of website performance and decreasing load time by 12% ended in a 0.5% boost to add to carts. 

There are hundreds if not thousands of cases such as these online from small to large businesses that have understood the importance of speed optimization for SEO and lead generation. 

3. Impact of Website Loading Speed on User Experience

Let’s say every shop on your block starts its business at 9 am and yours is the one that opens its doors at 10. How many potential customers have you lost in that single hour? Whatever the answer may be, it is only a fraction of what you will lose in a place as large as the online world.

Now imagine a shopping district as big as literally the entire world where millions of people look for items and services every day and losing a single second means lots of damage to your business. 

In the same way, you don’t want a slow service at a café, your clients also hate waiting for your website to load. Every single good could mean a new one right at your door. Google shares a few statistics about the relationship between website loading speed and bounce rate.

Our article on Why Google and Yelp Reviews Matter for Improved Lead Generation can give you more information on this matter.

Bounce rate statistics 

In just 1 – 3 seconds of loading time, the website’s bounce rate increases to around 32%. After 5 seconds, 90% of visitors leave your website. This amount increases to 106% at 6 seconds and 123% around the 10-second mark. 

Every SEO company out there focuses on hitting that 1-second mark or even less, since there is a huge difference between the loading time of 3- and 5-second bounce rate. This is exactly why many online business owners consider using SEO services. 

4. Factors Affecting Website Speed and Performance

When we talk about different factors affecting speed, it is very important to mention that both sides the website and the user, play a role in affecting website performance. However, one of those reasons is beyond our reach to fix; therefore, try to focus on your website and what makes it so long to load. 

Some common reasons could be:

• Useless Code.

 It happens many times that we see code in visual animations and widgets that is just not necessary and is only there to increase loading time. 

• Bad Coding.

Sometimes the code is necessary, however, the way it is used can be highly optimized to offer better website performance.

• Be Aware of The Performance Cost:

  You want everything on your website to load, and everything has a loading time, so add content worth showing. 

• Remove and Add: 

Set reminders for yourself to check if a code is still needed. When we add to the code, ideally, we want to get rid of those that don’t offer any value anymore. 

• Work with Agencies: 

Professionals in this field can optimize your code in the most efficient way possible and know all techniques for speed improvement.

• Image Size: 

Think about the third tip we mentioned here and don’t overuse images on your website. Where possible try to even reduce their size and compress them. 

• HTTP Requests:

 To load the content of your website, HTTP has to send requests to the server and retrieve the content, each request equals loading time and that’s why it’s best to reduce their number.

There are also some other factors affecting speed that you need to keep in mind when you are developing your website. Let’s look at two main devices that people use to access the World Wide Web. 

• Desktop:

Usually because of faster internet speed it gives you an equally faster result time. but it’s not the most common device used.

• Cell phones (or any other hand-held devices):

The majority of developers go for mobile-first design for a reason. It can be a real pain to develop everything for the optimal condition first and then think about the limitations. SEO is the same in this aspect. The majority of us use cell phones to search in Google and not all of us have 5G speed. 

5. Best Practices for Speed Optimization

A lot of the points mentioned in the previous topic have self-explanatory solutions. For example, too many HTTP requests can be easily solved by using browser caching. Doing this significantly increases website performance since all the information is readily available and there is no need to send requests to the server. 

There are, however, a few tips and tricks to reduce the number of factors affecting speed on your website that you might not have thought of.

• Hosting: 

 No amount of code and tricks and tweaks can save you from a slow server, a minimum response time of 200ms and good reliability are a must for any server. 

• Cyber Security: 

Cyber-attacks can greatly affect website performance, which is why you should consult a web security provider to block malicious data without affecting performance. 

• Image Optimization: 

Reducing the resolution and the size of images can have an unbelievable effect on website loading speed, lower size equals lower request time.

• Webpage Load Order: 

Try to show what matters first. There are many instances, especially in JavaScript where the code prevents an image from loading faster.

6. Tools and Techniques to Measure and Improve Website Speed

The importance of speed optimization for SEO and lead generation has resulted in the appearance of lots of tools for speed measurement available online. You do have to bear in mind that the criteria for rating website speed can be different based on multiple factors.

• First Contentful Paint (FCP) which refers to the time it takes for the first image or text to appear. 
• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) marks the time the largest file or image shows on the website.
• Time to Interactive (TTI) as the name suggests is the time it takes the page to be fully interactive.
• Total Blocking Time (TBT) is the period between FCP and TTI if it takes more than 50 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is basically how much your website changes throughout the user experience, with either pop-ups, layout, or font changes. 

These are several phrases and acronyms that need to be considered while using any page speed test or website speed test measuring system. 

Let’s Compare Different Platforms for Site Speed Measurement

Platform		PROS		CONS
Google PageSpeed Insights		– Completely free – Reliable information directly from Google – The scoring system is easy to understand – Provides diagnosis and tips for improvements		– The diagnosis can be a bit difficult to understand for the average person – Some may find the suggestions lacking in info. – There are other tools that can be a bundle you can use readily
WebPageTest		– Detailed and comprehensive analysis of website performance – There are multiple ways to change settings to customize your tests. – Completely free and open-source – Ability to monitor trends for performance for lots of websites – 65e4Recommendation for website improvement		– Although it is free, signup is required to use its features – It can be overwhelming to understand at first – Even though you receive recommendations on how to improve your website, there are no clear instructions on how to do so
GTmetrix		– Simplicity and a dashboard to receive reports on website speed – Free version also gives you speed reports – Clear reports and recommendations to make your websites faster – Report of display problems		– Some recommendations can be irrelevant – Free version is limited and only examines certain regions
Pingdom		– Quick and comprehensive reports – Combines bot and real user monitoring – Thorough cause examination about website uptime		– Prices can be expensive – Code functionality can be less welcoming to beginners – Lack of emphasis on cell phone traffic
Summary:			Overall there are certain qualities that each tool has and the major difference between them is whether they are free to use or not, and how beginner friendly they are. we advise seeking the help of a professional to receive the best and fastest results.

Conclusion: We Can Help with Your Website’s Speed Optimization

In this article I have tried my best to offer simple explanations for the difference speed makes in SEO and lead generation. Here at Top Organic Leads, we offer an honest review of your website’s performance and are equipped with techniques and the knowledge needed to fix any issues we find.

If you have a small business and would like to get ranked on Google, our company offers a unique pay-per-lead system that minimizes the risk of your SEO campaign. Call Now! and one of our team members would be happy to assist you.