What is Page Speed?

Page speed is how long it takes for your web page to fully load in someone's browser. It's measured in seconds and directly affects both user experience and your search rankings.

Google considers page speed a ranking factor, especially on mobile devices. Slow pages frustrate readers and increase your bounce rate, which can further hurt your rankings.

Why page speed matters

If your blog takes 5 seconds to load, many visitors will leave before seeing any content. Every extra second of load time reduces engagement and conversions.

Fast pages keep readers happy and engaged. They lead to longer dwell time, lower bounce rates, and more page views per visit. All of these signals tell Google that your content is valuable.

Common Speed Killers

Unoptimized images are the biggest culprit. A single 5MB photo can make your entire page slow. Compress images and use modern formats like WebP.

Too many plugins or scripts slow down WordPress and other platforms. Review what you've installed and remove anything you don't actively use.

Cheap or slow web hosting can bottleneck your site no matter how well optimized your content is. If your pages are consistently slow, consider upgrading your hosting.

How to Improve It

Start with image SEO. Compress all images before uploading and use appropriate dimensions. This single change typically has the biggest impact.

Use a content delivery network (CDN) to serve your files faster. Enable caching on your website so returning visitors load pages quicker.

Test your page speed with Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. Focus on the biggest issues first rather than trying to achieve a perfect score. Getting from 2 seconds to 1 second load time matters more than getting from 1 second to 0.8 seconds.