Whether we’re buying a car, rating a restaurant, or simply looking at an interesting article online, speed is often the most important factor. We’re all familiar with the fable of the tortoise and the hare. And while we may feel that the slow and steady turtle won the race, many website owners – including some of our own clients – still take too long to optimize their pages’ loading speed.

Does page speed improve SEO?

Getting your site to load quickly is vital for user experience, search engine optimization (SEO), and conversion. Users expect web pages to be fully functional within seconds, and 40% of them will abandon a page that takes more than three seconds to load. That’s why Optimizing page loading speed is one of the most important parts of any digital marketing strategy.

One of the most effective ways to increase page speed is to minimize the number of HTTP requests that each webpage makes. Each request requires a round trip to and from the server hosting the resource, adding to the overall loading time.

Another way to reduce page loading time is by using a content delivery network (CDN). CDNs deliver your web pages from a network of servers across the world, shortening the distance that information has to travel to reach end users.

Finally, it’s also worth considering compressing your images. Large photos can make a huge difference in page speed, especially when they’re high resolution. If you have a lot of images on your website, it’s worthwhile to use an image compression tool like ShortPixel or Compressor.