As you begin to think about digital marketing for your daycare center, you may have heard terms like “page speed” and “site speed.” Wondering how these terms relate to your center’s website? We break down some frequently asked questions about website speed.
What is page speed?
Page speed is “a measurement of how fast the content on your web page loads.” Another way to think about it is to consider how long your website visitors wait for a page to load after clicking on a search result or typing a URL, such as https://childcaremarketing.com/childcare-blog/, into the address bar.
What is website speed?
Website speed is slightly different than page speed. Instead of a measurement of an individual page’s load time, site speed is the average load time of various pages from your website. Site speed doesn’t affect users directly, because they only visit one page at a time. However, this metric is a good snapshot of your website’s accessibility.
How fast should a website load?
There’s no exact answer to the question “How fast should a website load?” Instead, put yourself in the shoes of busy families researching child care options. Obviously, faster is better. Most experts advise businesses to aim for two- to three-second load times.
Why is website speed important?
When you’re browsing online, you want to find the information you’re looking for quickly. Your potential clients expect the same. More than half of smartphone users expect web pages to take less than four seconds to load. This is especially important to keep in mind when your target audience is busy parents!
First impressions matter and site speed is one of your first impressions on the internet. If you were a multitasking mom, would you wait for a website that took 10 seconds to load? Even if you waited for the site to load once, would you return to it again during your search for child care?
There are numerous case studies on the importance of website speed. When Walmart increased its page speed by one second, they received a 2% increase in conversions. The reverse is also true. “A one-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions.”
Your business may not rely on online sales like retail giants like Walmart. However, when you consider the lifetime value of a family, losing leads from your website no longer seems like a mistake you can afford to make.
Does site speed affect ranking?
We just talked about how a slower website can make for a worse customer experience. Google’s goal is to deliver searchers a great user experience. It makes sense that faster sites would rank better in Google’s search results. Google also considers the ways site visitors interact with your website when ranking it. When parents have a hard time using your website because it’s slow, they won’t be clicking through pages and staying on your website for a long time, two ways Google measures site quality.
It also takes Google longer to learn what slow sites are about, meaning you may not be included in parent’s searches for local child care options at all.
Parents finding your website via search engines are not the only type of site traffic frustrated by slow site speeds. People clicking to your website from digital ads (which you’re paying for!) will also abandon your site if it takes too long to load.
Why is my website slow?
There are many reasons for slow websites. The slowest sites are often older. This is because site speed wasn’t as important when people always used hard-wired internet connections and high-speed internet was less common. On newer websites, speed can be affected by your hosting service, big images or videos, unnecessary code or lots of design effects.
