Instant judgement of your site is hardwired into human psychology. As a business, you’ll want to make sure that your site is inviting, engaging, and delivers what each user is looking for. But what happens if those users are never getting to see that site, and you don’t even know how many, or why? One of the easiest ways to protect your company against undetected loss of online traffic is to ensure that you have the speed your site really requires.
Why Site Speed is Important for WordPress Sites
Speed is crucial for WordPress sites for multiple reasons.
1. Conversion Rates
The first and most important reason is that visitors expect fast loading times, and a slow website can lead to high bounce rates and lower conversions. Fast websites simply provide a better user experience. And a better user experience leads to higher conversion rates.
Consider these stats: Users expect a site to load in less than 2 seconds, and almost half of those will leave a site that takes longer than that to display a page. A three-second load actually seems slow, and therefore substandard. 80% of people who experience a slow-loading website (more than 2 seconds) won’t return to that site. Some mobile users may wait one to two seconds longer, but that’s it. There is even less patience for small businesses and lesser-known brands than for bigger brands like Google and Facebook.
Unfortunately, many people have a short attention span and won’t wait around for your site to load. Your website should feel like it loads almost instantly. It shouldn’t feel like your visitors have to wait for it to load. Does that make sense?
2. Google Ranking Factor
Here is what Google says:
‘Google Search always seeks to show the most relevant content, even if the page experience is sub-par. But for many queries, there is lots of helpful content available. Having a great page experience can contribute to success in Search, in such cases.’
Google Search Central
In terms of Google rankings, your WordPress website speed is nowhere near as important as having relevant content on your website or having other high-authority websites link to your website, but it does play a part in page experience, Core Web Vitals specifically, which is a Google ranking factor.
It’s worth noting that in July 2018, Google rolled out their Speed Update, which targeted websites providing the slowest mobile experience. So, the website owners that will benefit the most from speeding up WordPress, will be those who have a very slow website.
What is a Good WordPress Website Loading Time?
WordPress websites should feel like they load almost instantly. I think 1 second is a good goal for loading any page or post from a WordPress website using a fast broadband internet connection. 2 seconds is a good goal for loading any page, product or post from a WordPress website using 4G. The faster the better, but there are diminishing returns on your efforts to speed up a WordPress site, especially once you have met Google’s core web vital metrics.
However, 1 second load time is very general and doesn’t take into account how your website loads and your visitor’s experience. So it’s better to use Google’s guidelines for good Core Web Vital metrics.
Google’s Core Web Vitals Recommendations
Google recommends the below core web vital metrics:
| Core Web Vital | Good | Needs Improvement | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCP | 0 to 1.8s | 1.8s to 3s | over 3s |
| FID | 0 to 0.1s | 0.1 to 0.3s | over 0.3s |
| LCP | 0 to 2.5s | 2.5s to 4s | over 4s |
| CLS | 0 to 0.1 | 0.1 to 0.25 | over 0.25 |
| INP | 0 to 0.2s | 0.2s to 0.5s | over 0.5s |
| TTFB | 0 to 0.8s | 0.8s to 1.8s | over 1.8s |
| TBT | 0 to 0.2s | 0.2 to 0.6s | over 0.6s |
Here is what the above acronyms mean:
- FCP = First Contentful Paint: This marks the time at which the first text or image is painted.
- FID = First Input Delay: This is how long it takes a browser to begin processing a page interaction like clicking a link or tapping a button. It’s essentially a page’s responsiveness to clicks and taps.
- LCP = Largest Contentful Paint: This marks the time at which the largest text or image is painted.
- CLS = Cumulative Layout Shift: This measures the movement of visible elements in the viewport/screen.
- INP = Interaction To Next Paint: This measures the overall responsiveness of a page taking into account all interactions during a page visit.
- TTFB = Time To First Byte: This measures the time it takes to receive the first byte of data following a resource request. It includes: redirect time, service worker startup time (if applicable), DNS lookup, connection and TLS negotiation, and request, up until the point at which the first byte of the response has arrived.
- TBT = Total Blocking Time: This is the total time of long tasks (any task taking longer than 50ms) occurring between First Contentful Paint and Time to Interactive.
Real User Data Testing for Core Web Vitals
Unfortunately, this website doesn’t get enough traffic, so Google hasn’t collected real user data for Core Web Vitals yet. However, I can share real user data from another one of my websites.
Below you’ll find real user data for Core Web Vitals when testing using Google PageSpeed Insights.
As you can see, the website passes all core web vital tests for both desktop and mobile.
Simulation Testing for Core Web Vitals
Below you’ll find simulation data for Core Web Vitals when testing this website using Google PageSpeed Insights.
As you can see from the above speed test simulations, this WordPress page easily passes Google’s Core Web Vital Metric recommendations for both simulations.
Notes:
- The real user data shown is collected from the website as a whole over the last 28 days using different mobile devices and different internet connections. They are providing an average of all website visitors over the last 28 days.
- If you run a speed test using Google Page Speed Insights, you might not see real user data until your website has had enough traffic. Until then, use the Core Web Vitals lab simulation data.
- All Core Web Vital metrics are in the green. For all other speed tests below, I will use Browser Stack (my preferred speed testing tool).
Measuring WordPress Site Speed
Before learning how to speed up WordPress, it’s important to know how to measure website speed so that you can benchmark and gauge improvements when you do start doing speed optimisation.
Measuring WordPress website speed can be done with several tools, each offering unique insights into performance.
Free Website Speed Test Tools
Here are the website speed test tools that I recommend using.
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- Google Lighthouse (Chrome Developer Tools)
- WebPageTest
- BrowserStack SpeedLab
- Speed Vitals
For an explanation of each tool, read this guide about free website speed test tools.
How to Measure WordPress Website Speed
Here are some steps you can follow to get a good measurement of WordPress website speed.
- Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check for real user data and/or simulated core web vital metrics.
- Use WebPageTest or Browser Stack’s SpeedLab to run tests using a real device from their location, ideally, a device that your ideal customer or client is likely to use. This is the closest you’ll get to a controlled test with real user data.
- If you have a global audience, use the Speed Vitals TTFB test to see how quickly your server responds to visitors in different countries. This will help you figure out whether you need a Content Delivery Network (CDN), need to use a better CDN or need to fine-tune your current CDN provider.
- Investigate the recommendations given by each speed testing tool.
- Follow this guide about how to speed up WordPress sites.
Final Thoughts
The speed of your website is an important factor for its success. A fast-loading site enhances user experience, boosts conversion rates, and can improve search engine rankings.
Prioritising performance optimisation by using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and adhering to Google’s Core Web Vitals ensures your website remains competitive and effective.
Investing in website speed not only benefits user satisfaction but also contributes significantly to your site’s overall performance and business outcomes.
