How important is page speed for SEO rankings?
Answered across 4 episodes of The Best SEO Podcast
Edited and curated by Matthew Bertram, host of The Best SEO Podcast (produced by EWR Digital).
Page speed carries significant weight in Google rankings. According to data cited in the episode, if a page load time increases from one to three seconds, bounce rates increase by 32%. Managed hosting and proper server-side setup are recommended as foundational investments, especially for those on a budget.
What the show says
Page speed carries significant weight in Google rankings. According to data cited in the episode, if a page load time increases from one to three seconds, bounce rates increase by 32%. Managed hosting and proper server-side setup are recommended as foundational investments, especially for those on a budget.
From Episode 522: Enterprise SEO Content: Opportunity, Dynamic Creation & Scale by Lemuel Park #523
HTTPS is a confirmed ranking signal and a trust factor for users. The hosts share a case where a startup lost an investor because their site lacked the lock symbol. Any site collecting user information or doing e-commerce especially needs to be secured.
From The Top 14 SEO Tips for 2019 by Aleh Barysevich Part 2 #460
Page speed is described as one of the highest impact, lowest cost improvements a business can make. The hosts recommend fast hosting such as DigitalOcean or Google Cloud, building Progressive Web Apps, and adding AMP pages. They say Google visibly rewards faster sites even without heavy off page SEO work.
From 8 Elite Digital Marketing Trends to watch out for in 2020 by Matthew Bertram Part 2 #477
Page speed is a ranking factor but not a dominant one. More importantly, a slow-loading page creates a bad user experience and causes bounces. Google Chrome becoming 26% faster was cited as evidence that users have less patience for slow sites.
Episodes that cover this
Related answers
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