{"id":2178,"date":"2023-03-06T13:30:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T21:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portage-live.local\/how-fast-should-my-website-load\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T14:46:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T22:46:04","slug":"how-fast-should-my-website-load","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/blog\/how-fast-should-my-website-load\/","title":{"rendered":"How Fast Should My Website Load?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ultimate-heading-512163fcc0292f1e0\" data-hspacer=\"no_spacer\" data-halign=\"center\">\n<div data-ultimate-target=\".uvc-heading.ultimate-heading-512163fcc0292f1e0 h2\" data-responsive-json-new=\"{&quot;font-size&quot;:&quot;desktop:25px;&quot;,&quot;line-height&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\">\n<p style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><span>How fast should your website load? As fast as it takes to get a 90+ Google&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/\"><span>PageSpeed<\/span><\/a><span>&nbsp;Score. That\u2019s the general marker for search engine performance, conversions, and user experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What is Page Load Time (or Webpage Speed)?<\/h2>\n<p>Page load time is how long it takes, in seconds, for a webpage to be fully loaded and displayed by the browser.<\/p>\n<p>Page speed is one of the most important web performance factors. This factor affects bots and people alike. It needs to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Load time affects a website\u2019s SEO performance, user experience, and conversion rate. The goal should be to have it load as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n<p>If you aren\u2019t sure what your website\u2019s page speed currently is, use <u><span style=\"color: #0c5394;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google\u2019s free&nbsp;<\/a><\/span><\/u><span style=\"color: #0c5394;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/\"><u>PageSpeed Insights<\/u><\/a><u>&nbsp;<\/u><\/span>(PSI) tool to find out. A score above 90 is ideal.<\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s a Good Website Response Time?<\/h2>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/docs\/insights\/v5\/about?hl=en-US&amp;utm_source=PSI&amp;utm_medium=incoming-link&amp;utm_campaign=PSI\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google, a 90+ PSI score is considered good<\/a>, &nbsp;a range of 50-90 needs improvement, and below 50 is unsatisfactory.<\/p>\n<p>Translating that to seconds: a page load time of under 2.5 seconds is good, 2.5-4 seconds needs improvement, and over 4 seconds is bad.<\/p>\n<p>For an optimal user experience, your website\u2019s content should have a near imperceptible load time. This can be a little tricky to pull off.<\/p>\n<p>The little things matter when it comes to digital performance. A practical target is to try to keep load times under 2 seconds.<\/p>\n<h2>Average Load Times<\/h2>\n<p>Those of us who obsess over digital performance tend to forget that most people are not as digitally savvy.<\/p>\n<p>So, here are some quick averages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It takes 1.286 seconds on desktop and 2.594 seconds on mobile for a website to send its <a href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/page-speed-stats\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">first byte of information<\/a> through.<\/li>\n<li>Google would very much like this first byte to load in <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/docs\/insights\/Server#overview\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">under 0.2 seconds<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>It takes 10.3 seconds on desktop and 27.3 on mobile for a webpage to fully load.<\/li>\n<li>Again, Google wants this to be <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/docs\/insights\/v5\/about?hl=en-US&amp;utm_source=PSI&amp;utm_medium=incoming-link&amp;utm_campaign=PSI\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">under 2.5 seconds<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With 10.3 being the average page load time, with a few tweaks your website can easily blow the competition away.<\/p>\n<h2>How Does Load Time Affect SEO?<\/h2>\n<p>Google knows how short our digital attention spans are. Google uses page speed as a search engine ranking factor.<\/p>\n<p>Your website\u2019s speed affects its appearance on all search result rankings across desktop, mobile, and <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/web\/updates\/2018\/07\/search-ads-speed\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ads<\/a>. Its bots won\u2019t show users a page that they\u2019re more likely to bounce from.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #21353f;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/docs\/insights\/v5\/about?hl=en-US&amp;utm_source=PSI&amp;utm_medium=incoming-link&amp;utm_campaign=PSI\"><u>Google checks your speed&nbsp;based on<\/u><\/a><\/span><u><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/docs\/insights\/v5\/about?hl=en-US&amp;utm_source=PSI&amp;utm_medium=incoming-link&amp;utm_campaign=PSI\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&nbsp;historical chrome user experience<\/a><\/u><span style=\"color: #21353f;\"> reports and real-time tool checks.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #21353f;\">How Does Load Time Impact User Experience?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #21353f;\">How long will most users wait for a site to load? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinkwithgoogle.com\/intl\/en-ca\/marketing-strategies\/app-and-mobile\/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">53% of mobile users won\u2019t wait over 3 seconds for a mobile page to load<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #21353f;\">And with Google\u2019s shift to mobile-first ranking, it\u2019s even more critical to get this right.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #21353f;\">Google trained a deep neural network to evaluate bounce rate and conversion data. Here\u2019s what it found:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mobile page speed new industry benchmark statistic chart. \" data-align=\"center\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"d71f3dec-4bc9-4b10-8cbd-e833ceab17c8\" src=\"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks-01-2.width-800.png\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"558\"><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>When page load time increases from 1-7 seconds, the probability of a mobile visitor bouncing increases 113%.<\/li>\n<li>As the number of page elements (text, titles, images) increases from 400 to 6,000, the probability of conversion drops 95%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Google\u2019s neural network also found that bloated web pages take longer to load.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>70% of pages were over 1 MB.<\/li>\n<li>36% of pages were over 2 MB.<\/li>\n<li>12% were over 4 MB.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In short, for the best user experience, you want to keep things&nbsp;<em>fast, lean, and stripped down<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2><span>How Does Load Time Affect Conversions?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>The majority of web searches are on mobile, with voice search creeping up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Overall, for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinkwithgoogle.com\/marketing-strategies\/app-and-mobile\/mobile-page-speed-conversion-data\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">every second of mobile page load delay, conversions drop by up to 20%<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Smartphone users need instant gratification. If not, they\u2019ll go to a competitor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Over half of all web traffic comes from the mobile channel, yet most sites are still poorly optimized for it. Desktop users aren\u2019t immune either:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/blog\/loading-time\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span>47% of people expect web pages to load in under 2 seconds<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/blog\/loading-time\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span>40% will abandon a site that takes over 3 seconds to load<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/blog\/loading-time\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span>A one-second page response delay can result in a 7% conversion rate drop<\/span><\/a><br \/><span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>This behavior cuts across all industries. Slow load time = higher bounce rates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And increased bounce rates = lost revenue. For an e-commerce site making $10,000 per day, <a href=\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/blog\/speed-is-a-killer\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dropped conversions due to a one-second delay can cost $2.5 million over a year<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span>Why is My Website Loading Slowly?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Website speed optimization is an entire field in itself. We\u2019ll focus on an overview of some common reasons your website might be slow.<\/p>\n<h3><span>Web Hosts<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Web hosting is an open industry. Bad hosts with un-optimized servers are a leading cause of slow load times.<\/p>\n<h3><span>No Site Caching<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Caching lets browsers save static copies of your site. When a user visits a page, the browser displays this cached version instead of reloading the entire webpage in order to speed up the process.<\/p>\n<h3><span>No Content Delivery Network<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A content delivery network (CDN) is a network of cached sites. Browsers receive cached information from the server closest to them, not the originating one.<\/p>\n<h3><span>JavaScript and Flash<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>JavaScript and Flash bloat sites and increase load times. Add these in with extreme caution.<\/p>\n<h3><span>Images<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Large, uncompressed, unoptimized images add too much file size to websites. Bulkier image formats like PNG eat up bandwidth.<\/p>\n<h3><span>CMS Plugins<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Many CMS platforms can be terrible for speed and performance. The plugins which give them functionality can also make them bulky.<\/p>\n<h2><span>How to Improve Your Website\u2019s Load Time<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>With all that covered, how can you get your website speed up to the ideal 90+?&nbsp;Here are some tips:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Use <\/span><u><span><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/\">Google\u2019s&nbsp;<\/a><\/span><\/u><span><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/\">PageSpeed<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/\"><\/a>to evaluate your current speed score. PageSpeed will provide some initial recommendations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Select a professional, performance-optimized web host.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Compress image files.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Use a Content Delivery Network, like Cloudflare.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Get off WordPress, go with Drupal. It\u2019s far more lightweight.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Get your site professionally coded.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Strip everything down.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Optimize for mobile.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span><span>Reduce redirects.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><\/span><span> Minimize use of HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Flash.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Following these steps should get your website up to a good loading speed. But do keep up with the latest web tech changes. Metrics, measurements, and ranking factors are continually shifting, along with consumer behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>Most website speed optimization is highly technical. It\u2019s worth getting your site professionally analyzed. Yet, even micro improvements in speed pay off in dividends.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"\/en\/about\/contact-us\" rel=\"noopener\">Reach out to Portage CyberTech\u2019s team of digital experts for help optimizing your website today.&nbsp;<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How fast should your website load? As fast as it takes to get a 90+ Google&nbsp;PageSpeed&nbsp;Score. That\u2019s the general marker for search engine performance, conversions, and user experience. What is Page Load Time (or Webpage Speed)? Page load time is how long it takes, in seconds, for a webpage to be fully loaded and displayed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"How Fast Should My Website Load? - Portage CyberTech","description":"How fast should your website load? As fast as it takes to get a 90+ Google&nbsp; PageSpeed &nbsp;Score. That\u2019s the general marker for search engine performance,"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,25,43,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-digital-transformation","category-educational-content","category-portage-en","category-user-experience"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portagecybertech.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}