Making sure you have a fast website is not new news. There are all kinds of scary statistics related to fast websites that have been floating around the last couple of years.
For instance, according to Google, 53% of mobile users leave a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. That’s over half the people that want to reach a website leaving. The knock on effect of this on sales and revenue is enormous. Load speeds that take longer than 3 seconds see even higher bounce rates:
Interesting side note – when a bounce rate goes over 100%, this represents people bouncing off a site, clicking the link again, and then bouncing again.
However, in recent months, the impact of having a slow website extends beyond people that have already clicked onto your site. For years, Google have said site speed is a factor in their algorithm – the magic formula they use to determine where a site ranks when people search for it.
As with all things algorithm related, it’s hard to judge how important any single aspect of the algorithm is. After all, there are estimated to be around 200 factors the algorithm takes into account.
What has become clearer lately, however, is that site speed is having a much greater impact on rankings than it has previously. This provides both a problem and an opportunity. Most sites are fairly slow:
This means lots of them have plenty to do. It also means those who crack on with speeding up their site now can capitalise early.
At Clear, we’re looking at how we approach site speed in a whole new way, from the build of a new site to the ongoing management and optimisation. Speed is only going to get more important and we intend to make it one of the cores of what we do.
If you’re interested in getting ahead of the curve, speak with us today. Our team can give your site the boost it needs.
Want to know more? Get in touch :)