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When it comes to the internet, site speed is everything.
That’s why anyone who has a website needs the new website speed report from Monster Insights.
But first, let’s talk about why site speed matters.
Table of contents
Why Site Speed Matters?
No matter how fancy your graphics are or how informative your content is, a slow website can have visitors (aka your potential customers) leaving and moving to a different website (aka your competitor) in a snap.
Here’s a fact: a successful website is all about user experience. People have become less patient and more demanding when it comes to information. They want seamless interactions – something that slow loading speeds can get in the way of.
On an even more urgent note, Google will also start considering site speed as a ranking factor in May 2021. This means that if you want to appear on that crucial page 1 of the search results page, you have to start optimizing your pages and looking for ways to improve your overall site speed.
Thankfully, Monster Insights has the solution.
Amazing Speed Insights From Monster Insights
The new Site Speed Report from Monster Insights allows you to zero in on areas you should be improving on.
It measures the following metrics:
- Server Response Time
This tells you how quickly your server responds to requests and returns the data needed to load the site.
- First Contentful Paint
This shows how much time it takes to load the site’s visual elements, like images and fonts.
- Time to Interactive
This calculates the amount of time it takes from the second the page starts to load its assets until it’s ready to respond to user interactions.
- Total Blocking Time
This tells you how much time it takes before visitors can fully interact with your website.
Based on these factors, the report gives you an overall score, with data for both desktop and mobile.
The best part about the report is that it gives you a target that will help you boost your site’s speed once you hit them. For each of the metrics above, they will tell you what score to aim for and how to do it.
Other Ranking Factors Google Looks At
Of course, site speed is just one of the many factors that affect your site’s Google ranking. So why stop at site speeds? Might as well check out these other ranking factors Google looks at.
- Fresh, unique and high-quality content
Gone are the days when repeating critical keywords in an endless, meaningless cycle gets you on the search results. People want quality content, and Google delivers it.
In terms of length, content on the 1st page of search results averages around 1,890 words. This means that it’s long enough to have given in-depth information about a certain topic.
But length could be misleading, that’s why the content should also be original and provides real value. Information should always be up-to-date.
User experience still applies when it comes to content, too. The use of different sub-headings to organize each thought allows page visitors to absorb information more efficiently. Imagine dumping long paragraphs without any break. That’s not going to be a good reading experience at all.
- Backlinks from high-authority sites
Backlinks are created when one site links to another site.
Think about backlinks as a vouch of confidence from high-authority sites. For every relevant backlink on your content, you’re showing the world that your content is trustworthy – and that other websites think so, too.
- Matching search intent
You’ve got a specific topic. You have just the right keywords in place. But does it really answer your audience’s questions the best possible way?
Search intent zeroes in on what users are looking for specifically. It’s not just about delivering information. It’s about delivering information the right way.
This is why video tutorials and step-by-step articles trump any other form of content when a user types in “how to” on that search bar. You can do a search about the best restaurants in New York and you’ll find a barrage of “top 10” or “top 50” lists.
This highlights the need to truly understand the specific audience you’re targeting and creating content specific to each step in their buying journey. This will help you figure out what kind of information they’re looking for every step of the way.
- Mobile-friendly pages
Fun fact: there are over 3.47 billion mobile internet users in the world!
Google went mobile-first back in 2019 for a very good reason – there’s simply more mobile users than desktop users.
This means that your website should be mobile-friendly for Google to take notice.
You can’t have visitors squinting at each page or zooming in and out because your pages are meant for a desktop screen. Trust me, they simply wouldn’t have the patience to do so, which means that Google might skip suggesting your site to them in the first place.
- Website security
With controversial data leaks and privacy issues all over, site security has become a critical ranking factor for Google. So better start moving your website from HTTP to HTTPS and update or install SSL certificates if you haven’t done so.
An HTTPS site encrypts data as it moves between the user’s browser and your website. Transitioning to HTTPS required SSL certificates, which provides the layer of authentication that enables the encrypted connection.
Final Words
This is just a shortlist of the critical ranking factors you should look at aside from site speed reports. There are a number of others, like keyword optimization, website structure, structured mark-up, and more.
The key here is knowing how to make all of these work together to pull your site up to the top of the ranks. Once you’ve optimized your site speed and have worked on all these other factors, you’ll also find more visitors on your pages – and hopefully – see more conversions.
Grab Monster Insights now if you still haven’t done so and start getting ready to wow your visitors with amazing speeds.
