Loading speed: what it is and why it matters in 2022

Loading speed is an important factor affecting both user behavior and site ranking. Slow site loading lowers conversions and forces users to click through to competitors' sites. A resource may have a great interface and quality content, but even that doesn't save the day. Let's take a look at why website loading speed is so important and how to check this parameter.

What is website loading speed?

The site speed shows how long it takes users to get acquainted with the resource and start interacting with it. It is good when the site is loaded for 1-3 seconds, but if it is more than ten, this is already bad.

Consider what exactly affects the speed of the resource:

• Heavy HTML pages. To compress data, you can use the Gzip file compression method.
• High resolution images. To increase the performance of the resource, compress pictures, banners, illustrations, convert files if possible, remove unnecessary elements.
• Overloaded web resource code. If so, clean up the code. For this, special tools have been created. We also recommend that you shorten the names of the functions.
• Video on the website. We do not recommend publishing them via FTP. Because of this, the web resource takes longer to load. Post your videos to Vimeo, Youtube or any other convenient platform.
• Inappropriate, slow hosting.

If the initial loading speed of the site did not suit users, most likely they will no longer return to the site for shopping.

How important is website loading speed?

Site loading speed is a factor affecting the position of a resource in search engines. Also, this parameter affects conversion, bounce rate, company reputation, behavioral factors.

Be sure to regularly check the performance of your site and resolve this issue if this indicator does not suit you. After all, while the site is loading for a long time, you lose profit and potential customers. Google research has made it clear that if a resource takes longer than 5 seconds to load, users are more likely to leave the page and navigate to another. Users viewing the page from mobile devices can wait up to 8 seconds, but no more.

Inspection tools

You shouldn't measure time yourself. This is inefficient and time consuming. To analyze website loading speed, use the following online tools:

• Google Pagespeed Insights is a service that all webmasters look up to. We recommend using such a tool in conjunction with GTmetrix. The service will not only determine the loading speed of the resource, but will also give useful tips to reduce the loading speed.

• Dotcom-Monitor - allows you to test from 25 countries at a time.
• Pingdom Website Speed Test - uses over 70 global parameters to test the speed of web resources on the Internet.

• Free Website Speed ​​Test - designed to test download speed from 9 locations from 4 continents. The service helps to check the loading speed of a resource not only on a PC, but also on mobile gadgets.

Each service has its own settings and features. There are other services as well, but we've covered the most popular ones. It is up to you to choose which of these tools to use.

Ways to improve website loading speed

You can increase speed by simplifying your code. The analysis will show you where you can remove everything unnecessary, cut out HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code, etc. We recommend using GZip compression to reduce the amount of data. When using the browser cache, the resource files will be saved on the computer, and next time the pages will load 2-3 times faster. To analyze the loading speed of a resource, you can use the Pingdom service or any other service that will give you simple recommendations on how to make your site faster.