Yes, as every SEO Pro knows – speed is critical for getting content (and domains) to rank.
The logic behind fast-loading speed is obvious and reinforced by the fact that Google launched its’ Mobile-First indexing policy in March 2021. More and more people are using Mobile over Desktop, so to “index-first” mobile certainly makes sense.
However, remember this as a general rule:
- B2B = expect traffic to use slightly more desktop devices
- B2C = expect traffic to use slightly more mobile devices
Why?
B2B (Business to Business) traffic suggests professionals seeking services or products relating to their job: meaning that they are likely sitting in an office typing search into a desktop browser.
B2C (Business to Consumer) traffic can be considered as being more “on the move” and this is particularly valid for eCom SEO.
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My Website Speed
This personal website has very limited functionality so you’d therefore expect it to be ultra-fast loading, or perhaps better said: it should be fast loading!
Here are my stats for Desktop in late July 2022
And for Mobile in late July 2022
So yes, the site is mega-fast.
The Technology Behind The Speed
From experience the most important things for speed are:
- Solid hosting
- Solid theme
- Compressed images
- CDN & Caching
And do all of those and you’re good.
I host everything using GeneratePress (WordPress) so a bunch of reasons but mostly because the theme offers a huge amount of flexibility using hooks and elements whilst rendering on a tiny CSS framework.
If you need speed and use WordPress then I can’t encourage you enough to use GeneratePress.
What About Hosting?
WPEngine is excellent but a bit of a rip-off. Their support is excellent as is their hosting (and speed) and ability to maintain the site, but for the money, I’d probably advise you to go somewhere else.
I currently (July/August 2022) use SiteGround but that’s really only because I paid for unlimited hosting, something I paid for when I was messing about with creating PBNs.
Linode and/or DigitalOceean are my “go-to” hosting solutions for larger sites. If you find DigitalOcean a pain to configure then I’d always recommend that you use ServerPilot.
Core Web Vitals, Lighthouse & “Speed Metrics”
Take speed and loading times with a pinch of salt.
Always compare yourself with the competition; to do that, here’s a great tool to test your SERP results. Sure, speed does matter but I’d wager that it is only important if your competition is doing a better job than you.
Lighthouse and CWV metrics are all measured by user-generated data taken from Chrome users so expect to see the fruits of your labor show up months afterward because the data takes time to show.
Whilst I am on the subject you should always examine your SERP volatility which will help detect whether the speed is a determining factor with your keyword(s) SERPs. Typically these can change keyword-to-keyword.
Wrapping Up
So, in summary – I guess I’m just showing off!
It’s kinda rare to get such high metrics