The faster the loading time of a web page, the better conversion rates and revenue per sale will be. If a website takes too long to load, visitors are more likely to abandon the page and look for another one that loads faster.
A website that takes too long to load not only affects the number of users and conversion rate, but can also deter other shoppers.
In addition, the loading time of a website directly affects page views, CPC, organic positioning (SEO)…For this reason, optimizing the loading time of a website is of great importance.
What is the loading time of a website?
The loading time of a web page refers to the time it takes for a website to load completely or display all the information. This includes all page content such as text, images and videos.
The speed of a web page load time can depend on several factors; page type, user behavior, file size, server/website host, inefficient code, direct links and too many plugins and/or widgets.
Optimize the loading time of the website: A key to success
Having a website with a proper loading time is more important than you think. Today’s Internet users visit many websites throughout the day, so they want websites to load quickly and be attractive and easy to use.
For users who have a slow experience with a website, particularly on mobile devices, the likelihood that they will revisit the site or make a purchase from it decreases considerably.
A faster website than a competitor’s can help to:
- Increase traffic.
- Decrease bounce rate.
- Increase revenue.
- Achieve high performance e-commerce.
- Improve Google ranking.
- Increase SEO with website responsiveness.
Important statistics
According to various studies, users prefer to browse those web pages that load faster than the average load time of 3 seconds. Statistics show that a website with a load time of more than 3 seconds will result in a large loss of traffic.
More important statistics about the loading time of a website:
- A 1 second delay equals 7% of lost traffic.
- It takes 3 seconds for a user to make an initial impression.
- 51% of online consumers abandon slow websites.
We must not forget that user experience is all about the loading time of a web page. A faster website will make users happier, which will encourage them to purchase a product or hire a service from the web.
Loading speeds and their results:
- 1-3 seconds: bounce probability increases by 32%.
- 1-5 seconds: 90% increase
- 1-6 seconds: 106% increase
- 1-10 seconds: 123% increase
How to improve the loading time of a website
Image size and number of images
According to Google, those web pages that had 38% fewer images than their competitors had more successful conversions. The graphic elements of a website represent almost two thirds of the weight of the web page.
For this reason, it is of utmost importance to ensure that the size of the images used is correct and that the file can be compressed.
Optimization of headers
Removing headings that are no longer relevant allows you to increase the valuable content in the top half of the web page and improve search engine results.
HTML and CSS structure
Evaluating the performance of HTML documents and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) on the web page can help improve website load time.
What is conversion rate?
Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who perform the actions you want them to perform on the page and the total number of visitors.
There are two types of conversions and their ratios:
- Goal conversions.
- Transaction conversions.
The transaction conversion is a goal conversion, but essentially a transaction or e-commerce. In other words, a transaction conversion is the conversion of a visitor into the final purchase of your product.