In November of 2020, Google added three new page experience signals that make up what is now being called Core Web Vitals. They include: Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS),First Input Delay (FID) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). These three metrics were added into Google’s ranking algorithm in mid-June 2021 and have since received a lot of buzz. If this is your first time hearing about Core Web Vitals, you can try Google Pagespeed Insights or alternatively GTMETRIX. Personally, I like to compare the results of both.
Well before mobile device use surpassed desktop usage, browser loading speed on mobile devices has been an issue. Recent research done by Google shows that it takes the average website more than 15 seconds to load on a mobile device. The study also noted that conversion rates significantly dropped with every second that it took a website to load beyond 3 seconds.
Imagine, your web designer builds you the most amazing website of all time. I mean, this website is beautiful! It checks all of the boxes; from a great site architecture and images to the most perfectly written and optimized content. You’re now ready to conquer the world with your brand new, money printing machine. Then, guess what, your website is taking 15 seconds to load. All of your visitors quickly jump ship and click on your competitor’s website, who has higher prices and lesser quality products. Chances are they won’t be back. If that’s not enough I’ll give you 10 more reasons why you need to improve the loading speed of your website?
In 2016, StatCounter released a study that found that mobile devices accounted for 51.3 percent of worldwide internet usage
Desktop computers typically have better processors and internet connection speeds via wifi or ethernet. Even 5G mobile device data network are slower in most cases . This means that loading sites on mobile devices can be significantly slower than a desktop even when optimized for mobile
Google has publicly announced that a fast website helps to rank better. The ‘Speed Update’ made website speed a ranking factor for mobile searches.
This was confirmed by a study of 413,000,000 pages at the 2018 SMX in Paris. https://www.slideshare.net/BotifySEO/how-does-google-crawl-the-web-botify-at-smx-paris-2018
Numerous studies have revealed that faster page speed results in better conversions. To put it simply, the quicker a webpage loads, the more likely a user is to carry out the targeted call of action on that webpage. It was observed that at some. 2 seconds, conversion rates were less than 1% At 5. 7+ seconds, conversion rates were in the realm of 0. 6%
This one is no secret. If you’ve been around SEO for any length of time, you’ve heard how much page speed effects bounce rate.
The ultimate goal of any web design project should be to provide the best user experience for site visitors. As part of that, page speed is one of the most important.
Conclusion
The bottom line is this, when site speed is improved you’ll end up with happy website visitors and happy search engines as well. And this is the end goal for all marketers.
