Recently, there has been a lot of buzz around how websites that load quickly and are user-friendly tend to rank higher on Google search engine result pages (SERPs). So, is this news or an obvious fact?!
At Alchemy Interactive, it’s second nature to us. The user friendliness of a site has always been our topmost priority. After all, if a customer is unable to use your website with ease and can’t be tempted to stay and peruse its other pages, what is the commercial point?
The study* just corroborated what we recommend our clients every day, i.e., to enjoy the highest search engine rankings, fastest results and happiest end user, you need to utilise the latest generation of web technologies.
SHere are some key considerations you should keep in mind while creating or updating a website:
- Optimising website speed – particularly on mobile devices
- Optimising “Time to First Byte”
- Considering your keywords as well as the build platform seriously, so that Search Engine Optimisation works totally in your favour
- Ensuring content is accessible to people with disabilities, especially the visually impaired ones (this is a common oversight – excuse the dreadful pun and we will be blogging on it soon. So, keep watching this space!)
Now, let’s dig deep into the first three considerations above.
Speed on the Go
Mobile surfing and downloading is now just part of our daily life and therefore, today’s end users expect the sites they visit to be as accessible and easy to use as on a PC.
Fortunately, gone are the days when accessing a site from a mobile device meant only seeing a very restricted version of it and tapping your toes as you wait for the information to download. Now, the latest technologies formats like WebP, JPEG2000 and JPEG XR offer better compression than the more basic JPEG and PNG formats, allowing files to naturally download faster and use up less of users’ mobile data.
In fact, on average, 86% of “Page 1” results and 85% of “Page 2” results now use next-generation image formats, such as WebP, JPEG2000 and JPEG XR.
Time to First Byte
Research has shown that 80% of results on Page 1 and Page 2 of Google has a ‘Time to First Byte’ of below 0.6 seconds, which is what Google suggests is necessary for an acceptable user experience.
“Time to First Byte”isbasically the time it takes for the “first byte” of information from a website to hit the searcher’s browser, once they clickany of the “search” results.
However, it’s not just about that first snippet of information. Websites that appear on Page 1 of Google, display their primary content in 1.19 seconds on average, while those on Page 2 do that in 1.29 seconds.
SEO
Today, sites that run on HTTP/2 are reaping immense benefits with respect to search engine rankings. Just over 70% of the sites that manage to secure a position on the first page of “search” results use HTTP/2, rather than the older-style HTTP.
HTTP/2 is a more comprehensive build platform, which enables search engines to quickly pick up on key signposts, such as correct use of titles, meta descriptions and tags.
If you are wondering whether or not your website is operating to its fullest and fastest potential, how about talking to one of our specialists today? We can review your current offering and suggest proven ways through which you can optimise its performance, better engage with end users and improve your conversion rate.