The Business Impact of Website Speed
Every second counts. Research from Google shows that as page load time increases from 1 to 3 seconds, the probability of a visitor bouncing increases by 32%. At 5 seconds, it jumps to 90%.
Speed and SEO
Google has used page speed as a ranking factor since 2010, and it's become even more important with Core Web Vitals. The three metrics that matter most:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) — how quickly the main content loads (target: under 2.5s)
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP) — how quickly the page responds to user input (target: under 200ms)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — how stable the layout is during loading (target: under 0.1)
Speed and Conversions
Faster websites convert better. Even small improvements make a difference:
- A 0.1-second improvement in load time can increase conversion rates by up to 8%
- Mobile users are particularly sensitive to speed
- Slow checkout processes are a leading cause of cart abandonment in eCommerce
What Slows Websites Down
The most common culprits:
- Unoptimised images — large files that haven't been compressed
- Too many scripts — third-party tracking, chat widgets, and plugins
- Poor hosting — shared hosting with limited resources
- No caching — forcing browsers to download everything on every visit
- Render-blocking resources — CSS and JavaScript that delay page rendering
How to Improve Page Speed
- Compress and lazy-load images
- Minimise and defer JavaScript
- Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)
- Enable browser caching
- Choose quality hosting
- Remove unnecessary plugins and scripts
Need Help?
Speed optimisation is part of every website we build. If your existing site is sluggish, we can audit and improve its performance. Learn about our web development approach or get in touch.