Before we delve into how to accomplish Google’s advised page load times and another point of action to take so as to optimise the page experience for speed and user experience, let’s take a look at how the topic of speed has evolved over the years.
If you look deeply at the history of man, there has always been an interest in speed. Whether in technology, science, or the arts, we can see that each generation has contributed to increasing speed over time. Whether it’s buying a car to use for commuting or evaluating a courier who just handed over a parcel. Each individual’s performance is evaluated by the speed at which they complete a given task.
So, if you already know that speed is crucial in life, why should you look away from poor page experience on your site caused by slow page loads?
Google does not put out particular schedules for page load times. However, the general knowledge among company gurus is that page load times of two seconds or even less can be marked as good. In 2010, Maile Oye, the then technical director of Google’s developer program, said; “Two seconds is the acceptable standard for e-commerce websites. At Google, we hope to achieve a speed of less than half a second.”
According to HTTP Archive, the average time it took for a mobile website to become interactive in 2022 was about 18.6 seconds. However, this average combines both fast-loading, and slow paced loading pages, so the exact load time for a particular page may be shorter or more extensive than this average result has gotten. Also, in the report, out of the over 8 million websites analyzed for compatibility with Web Vitals, only over 2.5 million websites had a good Core Web Vitals score.
Admirably, websites functioning on platforms such as Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace have been able to hit higher Web Vitals scores than WordPress websites. Only 27% of WordPress sites passed the Core Web Vitals mobile test, but as of November 2022, 43% of Wix sites, 47% of Shopify sites, and 36% of Squarespace sites have passed with an excellent Core Web Vitals rating.
If you’re vexed while driving through slow traffic on your vehicle, then you would find it more annoying when browsing slow-loading websites. Unlike slow-flowing traffic, the Internet offers multiple options.
Whenever you visit a site that is slow to load pages, you can always go back to the search engine, and select a direct competitor. If not, you can directly enter the address of another website that offers similar services. If you are a website owner, you need to look at your website from the perspective of your target audience.
If your website takes more than three seconds to load, redirecting your target user may give you an advantage over your competitors. According to a 2018 research conducted by AKAMAI, user expectations have increased along with page complexity, so traditional page load speed timings need to be revised.
An internal study conducted by Google found that 41% of brands were underperforming on the web. According to this research, around the year 2018, the mean value of internet users hopes to have a website that can be fully captivating as soon as it loads. It is stated that the user’s first reaction upon entering the page is to click a button or scroll down.
Unfortunately, the slow time-to-interactivity (TTI) leads to frustrating users who end up in click madness when they double-click repeatedly. For this reason, company run websites need to know how lengthy it would take a website to process, the point when a visitor interacts with the page site as a first attendant, and most essential, when the user gets a thrilling page experience.
The mean page load time is the average time it would take a web page to fully process, and begin to function in a web browser.
The set page load time is usually nothing lower than two seconds. Elements that alter page load time include;
As an individual or company running a website, placing focus on the average page processing time is essential, as it can have a massive impact on a user’s interactive journey, and also the webpage’s success. Tardy page load times can lead to a skyrocked bounce rate; users exciting your site quickly, lower rates in search engine results, and fewer page views, and conversions.
Faster page load times, on the other hand, result in a better user experience, more page views, and better website rankings in search engine results.
There are certain steps you can take to boost webpage average page load time:
Therefore, it is important to make an effort to keep your webpages as clean as possible in order to improve user experience, and potentially improve search rankings.
500 ms is half a second, and web pages that load within 500 ms are generally considered good. By the way, load time here refers to page interactive time (TTI), the time it takes for a website to fully load useful content, and other elements before users can interact with the page. However, keep in mind that your ideal page load time may vary depending on your website’s specific needs, and requirements.
There are several ways to calculate average page load time:
To calculate the average page load time, you need to measure the page load time for a representative sample of pages on your site. This is a selection of the most popular pages or a random selection of pages. After tracking the sample page load times, you can calculate an average by adding all times and dividing by the number of pages. This gives you an idea of the average page load time for your website.
It is important to note that page load times may vary depending on the size, and complexity of the page, the speed of the server hosting the website, and the speed of the user’s Internet connection.
Google recommends that pages load within two seconds. Plus, slow page load times can lead to high bounce rates, which can negatively affect your website’s ranking in search engine results. Well, this article has discussed more facts you should know about the topic.
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