Website speed affects the three things that matter most to a business at once: your position in Google, whether a visitor stays on the page, and whether they end up buying or sending an enquiry. A slow website loses in search and in sales, even with a good design and good copy. In this article we explain how speed affects SEO, what exactly Google measures and how to check your own website speed in a couple of minutes.
You can jump straight in: our home page has a section where you can see itsolutions.ee’s Google PageSpeed results, plus a form to check your own website speed with Google’s official tool.
Does website speed affect SEO?
Yes. Google has used page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals, since 2021 for mobile and since 2022 for desktop. Speed does not replace content or links: if your page answers the query better, it can rank higher even when it is slower. But between competitors with similar content, speed often decides who comes first.
The indirect effect is even bigger. A slow page loses visitors before they see the content: according to Google, the probability that a mobile visitor leaves rises by 32% as load time grows from 1 to 3 seconds, and by 90% at 5 seconds. A high bounce rate, short visits and few returning visitors affect rankings over time too.
Core Web Vitals: what Google measures
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): how quickly the largest element of the page appears, such as the headline or main image. Good is 2.5 seconds or less.
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): how quickly the page reacts to a click or tap. Good is 200 milliseconds or less. INP replaced the older FID metric in 2024.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): how much the content jumps around while loading. Good is below 0.1.
Google assesses these with data from real visitors (the Chrome User Experience Report, 28 days, 75th percentile). That is why PageSpeed Insights shows two results: real-user data and a lab test with a score from 0 to 100. The lab score helps you find problems; for rankings, the real-user data is what counts.
How speed affects sales
- Conversion: in a Deloitte and Google study, a 0.1-second faster mobile site raised retail conversion rates by 8.4% on average.
- Ad costs: Google Ads includes landing page experience in its Quality Score, so a slow page can mean more expensive clicks.
- Online stores: every extra second in the cart and checkout increases abandoned orders. Speed is one of the foundations of e-commerce SEO.
- Trust: a slow, jumpy website suggests a company that does not look after its business.
How to check your website speed
- Open the PageSpeed section on our home page, enter your website address and click “Check my site”. The test opens in Google’s official tool, PageSpeed Insights.
- Look at the mobile and desktop results separately. Google indexes websites by their mobile version, so the mobile score matters more.
- Run the test 2–3 times: the score varies by a few points, which is normal.
- Check the “Core Web Vitals” report in Google Search Console: it shows which pages are slow for real users.
- If the result is not what you hoped for, enter it in our form. We will look at what slows the site down and send free recommendations.
The same section shows our own website’s results. That is no accident: we keep every client on our maintenance plan at the same level.
What makes a website slow
- Unoptimised images: multi-megabyte JPG or PNG photos instead of WebP or AVIF.
- A heavy theme and page builder that load dozens of CSS and JavaScript files even where they are not needed.
- Too many plugins: each one adds code and requests.
- Third-party scripts: chat widgets, ad pixels, cookie banners and external fonts.
- No caching: every page is built from scratch on the server for every visit.
- Slow hosting: a cheap shared server or a data centre far from Estonia increases server response time.
How to make your website faster
- Convert images to WebP or AVIF, size them correctly and lazy-load images below the fold.
- Turn on page caching and combine and minify CSS and JS.
- Delay non-essential scripts until the visitor interacts with the page.
- Host fonts on your own server and preload only the ones you need.
- Remove unused plugins and replace a heavy theme with a lighter one.
- Choose fast hosting in Estonia or Northern Europe. We can help with migration and hosting.
- Monitor speed continuously: every new plugin, image or script can make the score worse.
The last point is the most important. As our home page puts it: just like in sport, speed needs constant work. Speed is also a precondition for AI tools to find your content; read more in Is your website ready for AI search?
How we can help
We do WordPress speed optimisation, a technical SEO audit that finds every issue limiting speed and visibility, and WordPress maintenance with monthly speed checks. If you are planning a new website, we build it fast from day one; an existing one we can improve without starting over. All of this is part of our SEO services.
Is website speed a Google ranking factor?
Yes. Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s page experience signals. Relevant content matters more, but between pages with similar content, speed can decide which one ranks higher.
What is a good PageSpeed score?
A lab score of 90–100 is good, 50–89 needs improvement and below 50 is poor. For rankings, real-user Core Web Vitals count: LCP up to 2.5 s, INP up to 200 ms and CLS below 0.1.
Why is my mobile score lower than desktop?
For mobile tests PageSpeed simulates a slower processor and a mobile network. Because Google indexes the mobile version, focus on the mobile score.
How soon will I see the effect of a faster site?
The PageSpeed lab score changes immediately. Real-user data updates over 28 days, and the effect on rankings usually shows within 1–3 months.
How can I check my website speed for free?
Use the PageSpeed section on our home page or Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. If you are not happy with the result, send it to us and we will give you free recommendations.
Check your website speed on our home page; it takes a minute. If your score is below 90, write to us.