14 Site Speed Statistics To Boost Your Loading Times

If you’ve read about web design and search engine optimization (SEO) before, you probably know that page load speed is a huge factor in attracting users to your site. You have no doubt heard again and again how vital it is to make your website load quickly.

And that’s a very true statement — you should do all you can to optimize your page speeds. But what makes site speed so important?

We’re here to help you answer those questions with the help of some top site speed statistics!

Keep reading to find out more about how critical your page speeds are to the success of your marketing!

14 Top Site Speed Statistics

1. The average website takes around 8.6 seconds to load on mobile devices.
2. The average page load speed among sites ranking on page one of Google is 1.65 seconds
3. 83% of online users expect websites they visit to load in three seconds or less.
4. 40% of online users will abandon a website that takes longer than three seconds to load.
5. Pages that take only one or two seconds to load have an average bounce rate of 9%, but pages that take five seconds to load have an average bounce rate of 38%.
6. Nearly 70% of users say that an online retailer’s site speed has an impact on how willing they are to buy from that retailer.
7. 64% of online shoppers who have a poor user experience on a website will go find a different store to shop at.
8. Half of online users surveyed say they’d prefer to miss out on animation and video if it meant getting faster load times.
9. For each second of additional page load time, conversion rates decrease by an average of 2.11%.
10. 44% of online shoppers share negative website experiences with other people.
11. 32% is how much the probability of a bounce increases as page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds.
12. The top 10 ecommerce websites in the US have an average page load time of 1.96 seconds.
13. Page load speed is in the top 20 Google Ranking Factors.
14. 79% of shoppers who have trouble with site performance say they won’t return to the site to buy again.

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14 site speed statistics for businesses in 2024

Let’s break down the top site speed statistics for 2024 below!

1. The average website takes around 8.6 seconds to load on mobile devices.

The average time on desktop is 2.5 seconds.

The point to note here is that mobile devices tend to be far slower than computers or even tablets. That means you’ll want to put an extra focus on page speed for the mobile version of your site.

2. The average page load speed among sites ranking on page one of Google is 1.65 seconds.

If you actually want to have a shot at ranking on the first page of Google, you need your site to be fast — around one or two seconds, specifically. That’s because page speed has a significant impact on Google SEO.

3. 83% of online users expect websites they visit to load in three seconds or less.

We just looked at how fast your site has to load to have a shot at ranking on page one of Google. But even without considering Google, you still want your site to load within three seconds. Otherwise, you’re risking losing out on a lot of traffic — bringing us to our next page speed statistic.

4. 40% of online users will abandon a website that takes longer than three seconds to load.

This site speed stat builds off the previous one, showing that a sizeable percentage of users won’t even bother to stick around if they have to wait more than three seconds. These users will hit the “back” button before the page has even loaded.

This stat is important because it shows that if you don’t take your page speeds seriously, you’ll end up losing out on a huge portion of your potential traffic.

5. Pages that take only one or two seconds to load have an average bounce rate of 9%, but pages that take five seconds to load have an average bounce rate of 38%.

Bounce rate — the percentage of site visitors who leave immediately after arriving — is heavily influenced by page speed. In fact, a mere three extra seconds of loading can cause your bounce rate to shoot up by nearly 30%.

6. Nearly 70% of users say that an online retailer’s site speed has an impact on how willing they are to buy from that retailer.

If you sell products online, it’s extra important to have fast page load speeds. You want people to visit your website and buy from you there, but as this site speed stat shows, many people will be discouraged from making a purchase if your site loads slowly.

7. 64% of online shoppers who have a poor user experience on a website will go find a different store to shop at.

We just saw how people might be less likely to buy from you due to slow page speeds. But most of those people will go a step further — not only will they be less likely to buy from you, but they’ll actually hop straight over to one of your competitors to buy from them instead.

8. Half of online users surveyed say they’d prefer to miss out on animation and video if it meant getting faster load times.

When you’re building a website, it can become easy to assume that flashier animations and engaging videos will help draw users in. And that’s often true. However, be careful how much you do it. If you rely too much on videos and animations, it can drastically slow down your site.

As this stat shows, users prefer faster load times to videos and animations. So, if it comes down to a choice between the two, definitely prioritize page speed with a simple design.

9. For each second of additional page load time, conversion rates decrease by an average of 2.11%.

We’ve established that it’s best to have page speeds of around one or two seconds, but it might not seem like a big deal if your load times are only a second or two over. However, as this stat shows, even a single second can cost you a significant number of conversions.

10. 44% of online shoppers share negative website experiences with other people.

Last on our list of page speed stats is that not only do slow page speeds affect people who visit your website, but they also affect people who haven’t even visited it yet. That’s because people who go to your site and get annoyed with slow speeds will likely tell other people about it, discouraging those people from visiting to start with.

Needless to say, this significantly hurts your sales, so it’s one more reason to improve your page speeds.

11. 32% is how much the probability of a bounce increases as page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds.

We touched on this figure earlier, but this restates how important every second is when working on site speed. This number comes straight from Google, so you can use this site speed statistic for SEO while targeting their search algorithm.

12. The top 10 ecommerce websites in the US have an average page load time of 1.96 seconds.

If you’re an ecommerce site, you know how competitive the industry is. That’s why this statistic matters — understanding site speed for ecommerce giants can give you something to strive toward.

Plus, knowing that customers don’t want to interact with slow loading time means you should seriously consider working on your website.

13. Page load speed is in the top 20 Google Ranking Factors.

While Google has never officially released their ranking factors, marketers and researchers have been narrowing down the top ones for years. Site speed is up there as one of the most important for helping your pages rank.

Knowing what we know about slow websites, this should come as no surprise. Google wants to give its users the best results, so they will inevitably prioritize fast-loading websites.

14. 79% of shoppers who have trouble with site performance say they won’t return to the site to buy again.

To round out our list of site speed statistics for SEO, we have this one on buyer behavior. Not only are you losing out on business initially — you lose a chance at conversions for good.

Keeping up with website maintenance and optimizing your pages is key to attracting and keeping customers interested. If you want to make sure your site performs well, working will do the trick with no extra workload.

Our digital marketing campaigns impact the metrics that improve your bottom line.

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Get help optimizing your page speeds with WebFX

The above site speed statistics have made it clear just how vital fast page speeds are. But you may be struggling with how to make your site run faster. If that’s the case, no worries — you can simply partner with WebFX.

At WebFX, our site speed team has more than 28 years of experience improving page speeds. In fact, we can also help you optimize your SEO as a whole so you’ll rank higher in Google search results and attract more traffic to your website.

To get started with us for page speed optimization services, just call 888-601-5359 or contact us online today!