If you think about it, some of the best experiences in life are things that we don't have to wait for. As consumers, we have become accustomed to immediate gratification. We can fast forward through commercials, receive two-hour delivery from Amazon Prime Now, and get a response from voice assistants like Alexa within a second.
Many successful businesses have figured out that speed means more money, and this philosophy is especially important when it comes to their online presence. Designing a website that offers premium speed caters to consumers' insatiable appetite for instant gratification and gives your business a competitive edge.
Fortunately, you don't have to invest an arm and a leg to improve the speed of your website. In fact, your business can utilize a free, open source project like Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) from Google to dramatically speed up your mobile web pages, therefore benefiting your search engine optimization strategy. What are Accelerated Mobile Pages? The majority of Google searches are now being performed using a mobile device. As a result, businesses are under pressure to create a mobile-friendly website that provides an optimal user experience regardless of the type of device used to access the website. Considering the mobile device users are less likely to wait around for a web page to load than those browsing the internet using a desktop computer, finding a way to speed up your website is crucial to your success. In late 2015, Google developed Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to make the internet faster for those using a mobile device. In early 2016, Google began highlighting AMP pages in search results by including a small thunderbolt icon next to the article (only can be seen when using a mobile browser). To date, there are more than 1.7 billion AMP pages on the internet with 35 million new pages added each week. When using a mobile device to perform a search, Google will give AMP pages preference in search rankings. These pages load almost instantaneously (within one second), which appeals to the consumers' need for speed. And here is some really great news: because AMP is an open-source standard, your business can use it for free to make the mobile pages on your website faster. The Relationship Between Speed and Search Engine Optimization While Google uses several different criteria to determine rankings, speed is arguably the most important element. Speed can make or break the user experience, which is why the search engine giant places so much weight in this area. If you're committed to strengthening your search engine optimization strategy, you need to look for opportunities to improve the user experience of your website. Adding AMP pages is a cost-effective way to enhance the user experience and improve your visibility in search results. A Faster Website Means More Conversions When pages on your website load faster, users are more likely to return to your website. If you sell products and services online, repeat visitors have the potential to benefit your bottom line. To demonstrate the impact that website speed has on conversions, here are some statistics from a 2017 study by Akamai:
Businesses that have already been using AMP pages have seen positive results with conversions. For example, The Washington Post experienced an 88 percent improvement in page load time with AMP pages, which resulted in a 23 percent increase in return visitors. Could You Benefit From a Search Engine Optimization Audit for Your Website? Are you happy with the results that your website is generating? For most businesses, there's always room for improvement. Since website speed directly impacts the user experience (helping or hurting search engine optimization), this is an area that your business needs to pay close attention to. It's to your benefit to have a search engine optimization audit conducted for your website to determine areas that need improvement. If you think you could benefit from a search engine optimization audit of your website, we can help. Our team at New York Ave can provide you with a user-friendly website that is designed for conversions. We'll look for opportunities to improve the speed of your website, and incorporating AMP landing pages into your website is one of the ways that we can accomplish this. Contact us at New York Ave to learn how we can help you to achieve a website that aligns with your goals and functions for your business. |