Websites are faster ever since page speed became a search engine ranking factor

Although it is not a complete surprise, it is still nice to have some sort of confirmation that the efforts were worth it.

Google recently confirmed that web pages in more than 95% of countries have seen improved speeds. Apart from the increase in webpage speed, user-centric performance metrics have also improved by 15 percent to 20 percent last year in 2018. In comparison, 2017 saw no improvement in user-centric performance metrics.

It is important to note that Google made page speed a mobile search engine ranking factor in 2018.

More developers are realizing the importance of fast-loading web pages

Google also revealed that fast-loading mobile web pages are becoming a priority for developers. In 2018, developers across the world ran over a billion PageSpeed Insights audits for over 200 million unique URLs.

This proves that developers are coming around and finally realizing the importance of fast-loading mobile web pages.

The downfall of abandonment rates

Another interesting — although not at all surprising — fact that Google shared is that abandonment rates have decreased significantly.

After all, when a website loads faster, people are less likely to abandon it right away. On the other hand, if a website takes too long, online users simply abandon the page and click on another link. This is an engagement metric that may also have a big negative impact on a site’s search engine rankings.

Google noticed a 20% reduction in abandonment rate.

The announcement reads, “Thanks to these speed improvements, we’ve observed a 20% reduction in abandonment rate for navigations initiated from Search.”

Keep focusing on page speed

While the internet has become faster, you still need to continue focus on how quickly your pages load. Moreover, continue to improve your website’s user experience to keep your engagement rate high and abandonment rate low.

You can use PageSpeed Insights and Google Chrome User Experience Report to learn more about how your pages are performing.