Page Speed

Page Speed directly impacts user experience, search rankings, and how AI systems perceive your site’s professionalism and reliability.

Why Page Speed Matters

User Impact

Abandonment Rates:

• 1-3 seconds: Optimal
• 3-5 seconds: 50% abandon
• 6+ seconds: 70%+ abandon

Mobile Expectations: 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take over 3 seconds to load.

SEO Impact

Google Ranking Factor:

• Direct ranking signal since 2010 (desktop)
• Mobile page speed since 2018
• Core Web Vitals since 2021

AEO Impact

AI System Preferences: Fast sites signal:

• Professional operation
• Quality infrastructure
• User-centric approach
• Reliable source

RAG Retrieval: Slow sites may be:

• Timed out during crawling
• Skipped for faster alternatives
• Penalized in source selection

Measuring Page Speed

Key Metrics

Load Time Metrics:

• TTFB (Time to First Byte): Server response time (< 600ms)
• FCP (First Contentful Paint): First element visible (< 1.8s)
• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Main content loads (< 2.5s)
• TTI (Time to Interactive): Page becomes usable (< 3.8s)

Interaction Metrics:

• FID (First Input Delay): Response to first interaction (< 100ms)
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Visual stability (< 0.1)

Testing Tools

Free Tools:

• Google PageSpeed Insights
• GTmetrix
• WebPageTest
• Chrome DevTools Lighthouse
• Pingdom

What to Check:

• Desktop and mobile separately
• Multiple geographic locations
• Different connection speeds

Common Speed Issues

1. Large Images

Problem: Unoptimized images slow loading

Solutions:

• Compress images (TinyPNG, ImageOptim)
• Use modern formats (WebP, AVIF)
• Implement lazy loading
• Serve appropriate sizes (responsive images)

2. Excessive JavaScript

Problem: Too many scripts block rendering

Solutions:

• Minimize JS files
• Remove unused code
• Defer non-critical scripts
• Use async loading

3. Render-Blocking Resources

Problem: CSS/JS blocks page rendering

Solutions:

• Inline critical CSS
• Defer non-critical CSS
• Minimize CSS files
• Remove unused styles

4. Poor Server Response

Problem: Slow hosting or server configuration

Solutions:

• Upgrade hosting plan
• Use better hosting provider
• Optimize database queries
• Enable server caching

5. No Caching

Problem: Resources downloaded on every visit

Solutions:

• Browser caching headers
• Server-side caching
• CDN implementation
• Cache static resources

6. Too Many HTTP Requests

Problem: Each resource requires separate request

Solutions:

• Combine CSS/JS files
• Use CSS sprites for icons
• Inline small resources
• Reduce third-party scripts

Optimization Strategies

Image Optimization

Best Practices:

• Maximum file size: 100-200KB
• Use WebP format (30% smaller than JPEG)
• Implement lazy loading
• Serve scaled images (srcset)
• Compress without quality loss

Code Optimization

Minification: Remove unnecessary characters from:

• HTML files
• CSS stylesheets
• JavaScript files

Tools: UglifyJS, CSSNano, HTMLMinifier

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Benefits:

• Serves content from nearest server
• Reduces latency
• Handles traffic spikes
• Improves global performance

Popular CDNs:

• Cloudflare
• Amazon CloudFront
• Fastly
• KeyCDN

Caching Strategy

Browser Caching:

Cache-Control: max-age=31536000, immutable

Server Caching:

• Page caching
• Object caching
• Database query caching

WordPress Example:

• WP Rocket
• W3 Total Cache
• WP Super Cache

Mobile Page Speed

Mobile-Specific Optimization

Critical for Mobile:

• Reduce image sizes further
• Minimize CSS/JS even more
• Prioritize above-fold content
• Use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) if appropriate

Mobile Testing: Test on actual devices, not just emulators

Page Speed and Core Web Vitals

The Three Metrics

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint):

• Good: < 2.5 seconds
• Needs Improvement: 2.5-4 seconds
• Poor: > 4 seconds

FID (First Input Delay):

• Good: < 100ms
• Needs Improvement: 100-300ms
• Poor: > 300ms

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift):

• Good: < 0.1
• Needs Improvement: 0.1-0.25
• Poor: > 0.25

Google Search Console

Monitor Performance:

• Core Web Vitals report
• Page experience insights
• Mobile usability
• Performance by page type

Quick Wins

Immediate Improvements

Easy Fixes:

1. Enable compression (Gzip/Brotli)
2. Optimize images (compress and convert)
3. Enable browser caching
4. Minify CSS, JavaScript, HTML
5. Remove unused plugins/scripts

Expected Impact: Can improve load times by 30-50%

Page Speed Benchmarks

Industry Standards

E-commerce:

• Target: < 2 seconds
• Every 100ms delay = 1% revenue loss

B2B/SaaS:

• Target: < 3 seconds
• Affects lead quality and conversion

Content/Publishing:

• Target: < 2.5 seconds
• Impacts ad revenue and engagement

Taking Action

To improve page speed:

1. Test current speed - Use PageSpeed Insights for baseline
2. Identify bottlenecks - Find biggest performance issues
3. Optimize images - Compress and convert to WebP
4. Enable caching - Browser and server caching
5. Implement CDN - Serve content globally
6. Minify code - Reduce file sizes
7. Monitor regularly - Track Core Web Vitals in Search Console

Page Speed is a foundational element of web performance—fast sites satisfy users, rank better in search, and signal quality to AI systems evaluating citation-worthy sources.