Impact on SEO and Google Rankings
In 2021, Google’s “Page Experience Update” formally introduced Core Web Vitals as ranking factors. In practical terms, if two sites have equally relevant content, the one with better Core Web Vitals (i.e., faster and more stable) can rank higher. It’s a tiebreaker in competitive search results
However, it’s important to keep perspective: Improving Core Web Vitals alone doesn’t guarantee top rankings emailvendorselection.com. Google still prioritises content relevance and quality. Think of speed/CWV as one piece of the SEO puzzle – you need good content and backlinks plus a fast, user-friendly site. That said, ignoring these metrics can hurt you: slow sites tend to have poorer SEO performance. One analysis found that “slow” domains (failing Core Web Vitals) ranked 3.7 percentage points worse in visibility on average than “fast” domains emailvendorselection.com. And with more than 50% of websites still not passing Core Web Vitals as of 2024 emailvendorselection.com, there’s a real opportunity to get an edge over half of the web by excelling in these metrics.
For digital agencies, this is a key selling point: you can improve a client’s page experience score, which not only appeases Google’s criteria but often correlates with better engagement metrics (lower bounce rate, longer dwell time) that indirectly benefit SEO. When pitching SEO services or monthly reports to clients, showcasing improvements in Core Web Vitals and load times can help demonstrate technical progress – it’s a tangible metric clients understand (“green” in Search Console is satisfying!). Agencies can even create case studies like “Site X improved its Core Web Vitals and saw an uplift in search rankings or organic traffic,” reinforcing the value of technical optimisations.
Impact on User Experience and Conversions
Perhaps even more critically, website speed affects your bottom line. Users love fast sites – and they punish slow ones. High bounce rates, low conversion rates, abandoned carts: these often trace back to sluggish performance. Consider these eye-opening statistics:
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Bounce and abandonment: As page load time increases from 1 to 10 seconds, the probability of a visitor bouncing increases by up to 123% sitebuilderreport.com. In other words, a slow site can more than double your bounce rate. On mobile, a site that loads in 1 second might only lose ~7% of visitors immediately, whereas at 3 seconds the abandonment jumps to ~13%, and at 5+ seconds it’s virtually game over for most users emailvendorselection.com. People just won’t wait around.
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Conversion rates: Faster sites convert better. For example, on lead-generation pages, those loading in ~1 second see an average 39% conversion rate, but at 3 seconds conversions drop to ~29% emailvendorselection.com. One study found that a site that loads in 1s has a conversion rate 3× higher than a site that loads in 5s sitebuilderreport.com. Small delays have surprisingly large impacts – a one-second mobile delay can cut conversions by up to 20% sitebuilderreport.com.
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Customer loyalty: Users equate site performance with professionalism. Nearly 79% of shoppers who experience slow performance say they’re less likely to buy from that site again sitebuilderreport.com. First impressions count, and a slow experience can damage your brand’s credibility. Conversely, if your site is quick and seamless, users are more inclined to stick around, explore, and trust you.
For SMEs, these numbers hit home: a faster website means more sales, leads, and revenue. For example, telecom giant Vodafone achieved an 8% increase in online sales after improving their LCP (loading speed) by 31% emailvendorselection.com. And when e-commerce company Rakuten optimised its Core Web Vitals, it saw conversion rates jump by 33% and revenue per visitor by 53% emailvendorselection.com. These are big-company cases, but the principle applies to businesses of all sizes – speed up your site, and good things happen.
For agencies working with clients, emphasizing this business impact is crucial. It moves the conversation from technical jargon to dollars and sense: “By improving your site’s speed, you’re likely to increase conversion rates and sales.” Some agencies include performance improvements as part of Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) efforts – rightly so, because speed is foundational to user experience. A site can have a beautiful design and great content, but if it’s annoyingly slow, many users won’t stick around to appreciate it. By fixing speed issues, you set the stage for other marketing efforts (SEO, ads, content marketing) to perform better because the traffic you’re driving isn’t being squandered on a sluggish site.
It’s also worth noting the cumulative effect: a fast site benefits all channels organic, paid, direct, referral. So SMEs investing in Google Ads or social media campaigns, for example, will see better ROI if the landing pages load quickly. Google even incorporates landing page experience (including speed) into quality scores for ads. The bottom line: website speed and Core Web Vitals matter to everyone – because they directly influence user behavior and satisfaction.
