How Page Speed Affects SEO?

Page speed, which holds a significant place among Google's ranking factors, is an element that must not be overlooked when aiming to boost your SEO performance. Every second counts in the digital world. As users' patience diminishes, your website's loading time directly impacts your brand perception and conversion rates.

In this article by Pella Global, we explore the effects of page speed on SEO and explain why speed optimization is critical to standing out in search engine results.

The Role of Page Speed in Google's Ranking Algorithm

Google announced in 2010 that page speed had become a ranking factor. Experts agree that site speed ranks among Google's top priorities. In 2018, Google reinforced this point with its "Speed Update," stating that pages loading faster on mobile devices would receive a ranking advantage. This update applies to all pages, regardless of technology, with a focus on penalizing the slowest experiences.

The situation became even more serious with the introduction of the "Core Web Vitals" update in 2021. With this change, speed and user experience began playing a much greater role in SEO rankings. An A/B test shared by former Google executive Marissa Mayer revealed that even a half-second delay could cause a 20% drop in traffic.

The Link Between Page Speed and User Experience

There is a direct relationship between page speed and user experience. According to a 2019 study by Ntfly, approximately 70% of consumers admit that page speed influences their willingness to purchase from an online retailer. Moreover, studies show that 40% of people abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load.

This trend has particularly striking consequences for e-commerce sites. According to Radware, 51% of online shoppers in the U.S. leave a site without making a purchase if it loads slowly. Additionally, half of consumers are willing to sacrifice animations and video content in favor of faster loading times.

Google's goal is to deliver the best possible user experience. Since one of SEO’s main objectives is to perfect user experience, a poorly optimized page speed results in negative responses from both Google algorithms and real users. With Google's mobile-first indexing approach, the importance of mobile site speed has increased even further.

In short, your page speed directly affects both your SEO rankings and user experience. Google's recommendation is that websites should load within two seconds or less.

Technical Factors Affecting Page Speed

Technical factors are core elements that determine a website’s performance. Which aspects negatively impact your page speed, and how can you resolve them?

Here are the technical details that directly influence page load time:

Server Response Time and Hosting Quality

Server response time is the duration between a user's browser request and receiving the first byte of data. Google recommends keeping server response times under 200 milliseconds. However, response times can vary significantly depending on your server's configuration.

Hosting choice is one of the most critical factors affecting site speed. In shared hosting packages, server resources are divided among hundreds of websites, which can degrade performance. Better alternatives include VPS, dedicated servers, and cloud hosting solutions.

Another key consideration is server location. If your target audience is in Turkey but your server is located in the U.S., physical distance will prolong load times. Additionally, inadequate server RAM and CPU capacity can increase response times.

Image Sizes and Media Files

Large images are among the primary culprits of slow page loading. When images are not optimized, page loading times can increase significantly. Research indicates that 53% of users abandon pages that take longer than three seconds to load.

Image optimization can be performed in two steps: resizing (scaling) and compressing. Adjust images according to their display dimensions and use tools like Kraken.io or Imagify.io for compression to significantly improve page speed. Also, by implementing the "lazy load" technique, you can prioritize loading content that is visible above the fold.

JavaScript and CSS File Loading Times

CSS and JavaScript files are critical components that impact page loading speeds. These files can consist of hundreds of lines of code, and when left uncompressed, they can severely degrade page performance.

Compressing JavaScript and CSS files involves removing unnecessary whitespace and comments to reduce file size. This compression helps pages load faster. Implementing Gzip compression can also save a significant amount of bandwidth.

Render-blocking resources, especially CSS files, must be loaded before page rendering, while JavaScript files can be loaded asynchronously. This allows your page content to load while scripts continue running in the background.

Redirect Chains and External Resources

Redirect chains occur when multiple redirects are needed to reach a final destination URL. Each additional redirect prolongs page loading and worsens user experience.

Google bots tolerate up to four redirects, but they may stop crawling at the fifth redirect, resulting in link equity loss and decreased visitor traffic.

Using a CDN (Content Delivery Network) is an effective method for speeding up your site. A CDN distributes your content across servers worldwide, providing users with faster access from the nearest server, which is particularly vital for global websites.