Loading ...Most site owners will be aware that the performance of their site has some effect on its success. It’s a fairly easy leap to make. Anything slow and awkward in relation to a business operation is generally a bad thing. But can you really put your finger on exactly why performance is important on the net?
It is important to know exactly how performance affects your site as this allows you to plan more effectively. Without this knowledge, it’s possible that you may overlook some areas of performance that are important, or concentrate on others that have a lower relevance. Knowing exactly how much revenue you’re losing through a slow site is also a good motivation for fixing your problems.
Slow sites lose conversions
Search engine optimisation experts frequently talk about the link between a slow site and loss of internet traffic. Studies have shown again and again that a site that takes more than two seconds to download tends to put internet users off, losing you traffic before the user even glimpses your page. What most experts don’t discuss is the effect this has on revenue.
While a slow site may put some internet users off reading your pages, it puts an even larger chunk of your audience off purchasing from your site. A number of studies have shown that a slow site loses more than double the number of internet users in relation to revenue as it does in relation to simple page views. The longer the delay between page click and load, the more users you lose. This is a fairly scary statistic for any site.
Delays affect the long term
Another interesting effect of slow load times was shown in a study by Eric Schurman and Jake Brutlag, from Bing and Google respectively. The pair found that internet users are reluctant to trust a slow site even after a slow load time has been fixed. This means that allowing your site to slow down is going to affect you in the long term, making for a long recovery period for your statistics.
This does raise the question of how to avoid download time issues before they become a problem. It is a difficult issue, because usually a site owner doesn’t notice the slow load time until it becomes a problem with internet users. Load times are usually looked at during the search engine optimisation process, and you can talk to us at SEO Consult Australia about this issue.
Even fast sites benefit from improvements
You may think your site loads pretty fast, but it’s possible that your statistics will improve if you can get it to load faster. Shopzilla’s Phil Dixon performed a year-long study on the site to see how download improvements could help a site. It showed that not only did improved download times boost page views and sales, but it cut down on operating costs.
As you can see, there are a number of good reasons to improve your page load times. Download time is an SEO issue, and you should discuss it with your optimisation consultant.
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Tags: Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SEO Consult
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