Slow sites cause potential leads and customers to bail on your brand before you even have the chance to make your case. As more people interact with your website via mobile, attention spans have drastically shortened, and the demand for speed has never been greater. In 2021, it’s only now that we’re starting to pay attention.
3 Reasons Why Site Speed is so Important
You have to be careful when picking a host because not every host is fast. Generally, you’d want your site to load in under 1.5 seconds, and when you’re looking at budget shared hosting, not every host can pull that off. If you can find a fast host, you’ll quickly reap these three benefits:
- Google Might Give You a Rankings Boost
- Customers Will Have an Easier Time Navigating Your Sales Funnel
- Your Mobile Users Will Have a Better Experience
Reason #1: Site Speed is a New Google Rankings Factor
Let’s start our rundown with the most important reason you’ll need a fast site: Google and other search engines. In the old days, it was pretty easy to get a site to rank. Just use your target keyword throughout your site, and you’d have a good shot at a top ranking. In 2021, Google has decided that they only want to promote sites that users love. Gone are the days where sites that have the best information are the most prized. Instead, Google is turning to its Core Web Vitals metrics to evaluate which sites rise to the top.
What are the Core Web Vitals? They’re three metrics that measure how good of a user experience your site creates. Since Google wants to promote only the best sites with the best user experience, you’ll need to score well in the Core Web Vitals to have a chance at a top ranking. Let’s break down what each of these three metrics are, and how you can influence them. Here’s a breakdown of each Core Web Vital, with a detailed explanation of what each factor means, starting with LCP (or Largest Contentful Paint) .
Largest Contentful Paint: LCP
Largest Contentful Paint is a measure of how fast your site loads. The bottom line here is how long does it take for your website files to travel from the server to the client’s browser and then render visually so the user can read it. While there are optimization opportunities you can take to get your LCP score up, if you have slow hosting, you’ll still fall short. The easiest solution is to invest in the fastest hosting you can afford. Taking this one step will do more to improve your LCP score than any amount of under-the-hood optimizations.
First Input Delay: FID
First Input Delay measures how long it takes for your site to become interactive. This is another rankings factor that can be influenced by site speed. Interactivity depends on how fast your external code is delivered to your user’s browser and how many scripts need to load before the user can interact with your site. If you use a lot of external libraries, your FID score may be lower.
FID can also be influenced by hosting speed. If your site takes forever to load, your FID score will also be impacted, because it will obviously be a longer time before the site can be interactive. The solution is to get fast hosting, and optimize your site’s external code so you can create a better experience and a better FID score.
Cumulative Layout Shift: CLS
If your user experience relies on showing and hiding separate areas of your site, you may want to rethink this aspect of your design if you want higher rankings. This rankings factor doesn’t involve hosting at all. Instead this rankings factor is determined by your website design. Be careful with your use of JavaScript and make sure you stick to tested principles of design when building your website.
Reason #2: Fast Sites Create More Conversions
Even if you have the most expertly designed sales funnel, if your site loads slowly, you won’t see any benefit. The reason? Consumers abandon a slow loading site after waiting for 2 seconds or more. For this reason, you can’t afford to have a slow site.
If you’re launching a new business on a budget, you may not think you can afford fast hosting, but that isn’t always true. SiteGround’s GrowBig plan can handle 25,000 monthly site visitors, and serves sites at blazing fast speeds—all for under $200. It may be worth your attention to check out this quality host, to see if it can get your site speed up to the level you need for your optimized sales funnel.
Reason #3: Fast Hosting Creates a Better Experience on Mobile
Depending on where you are, mobile data connections can be significantly slower than WiFi. Because of this limitation, you need to have fast hosting if you’re looking to capture the attention of a mobile user. Approximately 50% of all website traffic is mobile, meaning you can’t afford to have a site that only works on desktop.
There’s a lot of hype about 5G connections, and while they’re fast, 5G won’t be able to cover for you if you have slow hosting. Because hosting speed is all about the server, a slow host will still take extra time to serve a website, even if the user has 5G.
Conclusion
If you’re ready to shop for fast hosting that can set you apart from the pack, use our hosting recommender tool. It will tell you the best hosting for your small business based on your business type. Try it today!
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