What is Page Speed?
The measurement of how quickly a web page loads and becomes interactive for users, directly impacting user experience and search rankings.
Page Speed Explained
Page speed measures how fast a web page renders content and becomes usable. It encompasses several metrics: Time to First Byte (TTFB, server response time), First Contentful Paint (FCP, when the first content appears), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP, when the main content loads), and Time to Interactive (TTI, when the page becomes fully interactive). Page speed is a confirmed Google ranking factor and significantly impacts user experience: a one-second delay in load time can reduce conversions by 7% and increase bounce rates by 11%. Optimization involves compressing images, minifying code, leveraging browser caching, using CDNs, reducing server response time, and eliminating render-blocking resources.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good page speed score?
Google PageSpeed Insights scores from 0-100. A score of 90+ is considered good, 50-89 needs improvement, and below 50 is poor. More importantly, target these load times: LCP under 2.5 seconds, FID under 100ms, and CLS under 0.1.
How does page speed affect SEO?
Page speed is a confirmed Google ranking factor, especially for mobile results. Faster pages rank higher, get crawled more efficiently, and provide better user experience signals (lower bounce rates, higher engagement). Core Web Vitals are part of Google page experience signals.
What are the biggest factors slowing down page speed?
Unoptimized images (too large, wrong format), excessive JavaScript, render-blocking CSS, slow server response times, no browser caching, too many HTTP requests, and missing CDN. Image optimization alone often yields the biggest improvement.
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