Page speed

Page speed is about how quickly a page loads and becomes usable for a visitor. That is more than a single number. How quickly does the first content appear? When is the main image or text visible? Does the page respond straight away when you tap a button? And does the layout stay put while everything loads?

Everyone knows the feeling of a slow website: you wait, tap again and eventually leave. For an SME, that can mean a missed quote request or a lost sale.

How do you measure page speed?

Google uses the Core Web Vitals as a measure of a page's user experience. They look at three aspects:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how quickly the largest visible element has loaded;
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): how smoothly the page responds to interaction;
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): how stable the layout remains while loading.

You can check these values with PageSpeed Insights and in the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console. Bear in mind that lab tests are a snapshot, whereas field data shows how real visitors experience your site.

Is page speed a ranking factor?

Google says page experience, including the Core Web Vitals, counts towards rankings, but that relevant content carries more weight. So a fast page with weak content won't simply rise to the top. Speed matters mainly because it shapes your visitors' experience, and so helps decide whether they stay, look around and get in touch. A slow site can, for example, contribute to a higher bounce rate.

Common causes of a slow website

A photographer in Brighton puts his portfolio online with photos straight from the camera, each several megabytes in size. On mobile, it takes a long time for the first photo to appear. That is a classic example. Other frequent culprits:

1. images that are too large or uncompressed, without modern formats such as WebP or AVIF;
2. lots of plugins, tracking scripts and chat widgets loading at the same time;
3. heavy fonts or sliders at the top of the page;
4. cheap hosting without caching;
5. ads or embeds that make the layout jump around.

Optimising images and removing unnecessary scripts often makes a noticeable difference on its own. Start with your most important pages, such as the homepage, your service pages and your contact page, and test again after every change, so you know what really helps.

Speed and AI search engines

AI crawlers and search engines need to be able to fetch your pages in order to use them. A website that responds slowly or returns errors makes that harder. Especially on larger sites, a slow server can also affect your crawl budget. On top of that, visitors arriving via a link in an AI answer often have a specific question. If they land on a slow page, they quickly drop off. Speed is therefore a basic requirement, not only for traditional SEO but also for GEO.

Finding the bottlenecks

An overall speed score says little about which pages are causing the problem. A technical SEO analysis of your load times shows where the delay is on each page, so you can make targeted improvements instead of guessing.