How does page load speed affect SXO and conversion?

Today’s websites need to be fully responsive to user expectations. This includes page loading speed. This parameter has a huge impact on the issue of exploring a given site, and thus can translate into user experience and even conversion rate. How does a website’s fluidity and loading speed affect SXO and conversion? How to increase these parameters?

SXO is one of the most important elements in evaluating modern websites. User experience parameters indicate the usability qualities of a site. They make it possible to assess whether a given resource on the web is tailored to users’ needs, its operation is smooth, readable and allows, for example, to make efficient and fast purchases without worrying about the safety of funds. SEO, on the other hand, affects the position of a website in a search engine when a certain key phrase is typed in.

Page loading speed – what exactly does this parameter indicate?

Let’s add that SXO is an extremely important factor from the point of view of a site’s search engine position. SXO affects SEO issues, and SEO must be based not only on keywords, but also on the qualities of a given website.  One of the elements that is taken into account when Google evaluates the SXO parameter is page load speed. What is worth knowing about this parameter?

Page load speed is the time it takes for a site to load its full resources, calculated from the moment a URL is typed into the browser bar or a hyperlink is clicked. Every second of delay translates into less interest from the users’ point of view, weaker positioning and ultimately a low conversion rate.

What is the optimal page load speed? Indicators state that it is 2-3 seconds at most. In practice, the best websites open in less than two seconds. You should aim for just this indicator. 

How does page load speed translate into SXO and conversion?

As we have already mentioned, page load speed has a measurable impact on the issue of SXO, as well as conversion, i.e. the user’s desired use of the site by the administration. Conversion can be, for example, making a purchase in an online store, selecting a service appointment in a dedicated form or leaving a contact email in the database. 

Why does page speed have such an impact on SXO and conversion? Because this element plays a decisive role in the fluidity of a website’s user experience. A user who opens a particular site wants to quickly get acquainted with its resources and then possibly make a purchase. If the site takes too long to load, the same user will give up exploring and, consequently, will not make a purchase.  

The loading speed of a page also translates into the overall impression of the site, the trust in the site from the user’s point of view. If the page speed is very negative, the so-called bounce rate also increases. This is a factor indicating how quickly a user abandoned browsing the site, discouraged by, for example, long loading times. 

It’s worth remembering that Google’s algorithms such as Google PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals regularly evaluate page speed parameters and affect where a certain website will rank in search results.

How do you improve the page speed parameter so that it translates into SXO and increased conversions?

There are many elements that can be improved to favorably affect page speed. It is worthwhile to compress resources and eliminate components of the page that are not necessary, but burden the site. It is good to bet on a better and more efficient server. Also effective is the so-called caching, which is a mechanism for temporarily storing data on the user’s computer, making it easier to reload the page, for example, when launching the same subpage a second time.

Do not load the site with unnecessary images, multimedia, animations, etc. All this affects the loading speed of the site. The price is readability and smoothness, not “repackaging” with data.

This article was prepared in collaboration with our partner, Semcore, the first and one of the leading SXO agencies in Poland, offering unique marketing strategies that combine SEO and UX.