SEO glossary · P

Page Speed

What is Page Speed?

Page speed is how quickly a web page loads and becomes usable. It isn’t one number: it covers how fast the server responds, how soon the main content appears and how quickly the page reacts when someone taps or clicks.

How page speed is measured

Google’s Core Web Vitals measure the parts of speed that visitors notice most:

  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how long the main content takes to appear. Aim for 2.5 seconds or less.
  • Interaction to Next Paint (INP): how quickly the page responds to taps and clicks. Aim for 200 milliseconds or less.
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): how much the layout jumps while loading. Aim for 0.1 or less.

Test pages with PageSpeed Insights, and see the results for your whole site in Google Search Console.

Does page speed affect SEO?

Yes, but modestly. Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s page experience signals, which can help decide between pages of similar relevance. The bigger effect is on visitors: slow pages lose more people before they read, buy or get in touch.

How to make pages faster

  • Resize and compress images, use WebP or AVIF, and lazy-load images further down the page.
  • Remove unused plugins, scripts and CSS.
  • Use caching and a CDN.
  • Choose fast hosting and keep your CMS and PHP version up to date.

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