Ubersuggest's Site Audit tool is a powerful feature designed to help website owners identify and rectify SEO issues. One of the critical errors flagged by the Site Audit is "Pages with Long Load Time." This article aims to guide beginner SEOs on understanding, finding, and resolving this specific issue using Ubersuggest.
What are Pages with Long Load Times?
Pages with long load times refer to webpages that take an excessive amount of time to fully render and display all elements, including the site's HTML code but excluding images, CSS, JavaScript, or any other non-HTML codes. In today's fast-paced digital environment, quick load times are crucial for maintaining user interest and engagement, making it a vital aspect of effective SEO.
Why are Pages with Long Load Time Bad for SEO?
Pages with long load times are detrimental to SEO for several reasons. They create a poor user experience, leading to higher bounce rates and less time spent on the page. Search engines like Google prioritize websites that offer a better user experience, and page load time is a significant factor in their ranking algorithms. Additionally, slow load times can negatively affect conversion rates, as users are likely to abandon the site before completing a desired action.
Understanding Page Speed Results in Site Audits
As of May 2020, Google has emphasized user experience in its ranking criteria, focusing on several key factors:
Mobile Optimization
Websites must be fully optimized for mobile browsing.
Safe Browsing
Websites need to be free from deceptive content or harmful software.
HTTPS Security
Webpages should be securely served over HTTPS.
User-Friendly Design
Avoid pop-ups or other elements that obstruct the main content.
Core Web Vitals
Focus on rapid loading, interactive elements, and visual stability.
Why Is Page Speed Important?
Google's algorithms evaluate how quickly your webpage loads to ensure users remain engaged and don't leave. Slow-loading pages risk lower rankings and may be surpassed by faster, more efficiently loading sites.
Google aims to enhance the overall web experience. This involves:
- Speed: How quickly a page displays crucial content.
- Responsiveness: The site's reaction to user inputs.
- Visual Stability: Minimizing unexpected layout shifts that disrupt the user experience.
These updates highlight the importance of a seamless, user-centric web experience for the sustained success of any website.
Which Metric Does Ubersuggest Uses?
Our speed metrics follow the standard web vitals metrics algorithms launched by Google. We now focus on three inputs:
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Load time: Largest Contentful Paint
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Interactivity: First Input Delay
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Visual Stability: Cumulative Layout Shift
How Does Our Tool Work?
The data is sourced directly from the Google Page Speed Insights API, specifically from the "Origin Summary" section. This section provides a site-level summary of three key metrics.
How to Fix Pages with Long Load Time
To optimize pages with long load times, consider the following steps. Ensure that your website's HTML code is clean and uncluttered by removing any unnecessary plugins, elements, or features that may be affecting load speed. Compress images to reduce file sizes without significantly compromising quality. Implement caching solutions to store and quickly retrieve often-accessed data, reducing server load. If your server is compromising your load speed, consider upgrading to a better hosting company or a more robust plan.
Pro Tip and Further Reading
Always prioritize optimizing your website’s speed; a quick, responsive site significantly enhances user experience and SEO performance. A fast-loading website not only keeps user attention but also fosters user trust and engagement, leading to better conversion rates and higher search engine rankings. Regularly check your site’s speed and implement necessary optimizations to ensure it remains quick and user-friendly. In the digital realm, speed is not just a convenience—it’s a necessity.
Improving page load time is crucial for SEO and overall website performance. For more actionable advice and strategies on how to increase your page load time, please refer to this article from Neil Patel's blog: How to Increase Your Page Speed for Better SEO Results.