Full Transcript
Lauren: So I was looking at my friend's business website the other day, and it was taking forever to load. Like, I'm sitting there watching this little spinner, and I'm thinking... does Google even care about this? Does it actually affect her business?
Honor: Welcome to the 805 Web Minute with Lauren and Honor... We make interwebs and website stuff make sense... Let's get into it.
Honor: Oh, Google cares a lot. And here's the number that should scare every business owner... 53 percent of mobile visitors will just leave your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
Lauren: Wait... 53 percent? That's more than half!
Honor: Yep. Gone. Before they even see what you're selling. And Google knows this, so they actually rank slower websites lower in search results.
Lauren: So it's like... Google is saying, why would I send people to a website that's just gonna frustrate them?
Honor: Exactly. If Google sends someone to your site and they bounce right off, it makes Google look bad for recommending you.
Lauren: Okay but what does fast even mean? Like, is there a number I should be shooting for?
Honor: So Google measures a few specific things. The main one is how quickly does your main content show up? They want that within 2 and a half seconds.
Lauren: Two and a half seconds? That's like... barely enough time to blink!
Honor: Right! And here's the wild part... only about half of all websites actually pass Google's speed tests. Almost half the internet is slower than it should be.
Lauren: Oh wow. So it's not just my friend's site.
Honor: Not at all. And the other thing Google checks is... does your page respond quickly when someone taps a button? On mobile especially. If there's a delay, it feels sluggish.
Lauren: Oh, I know exactly what you mean. You tap something and nothing happens, so you tap it again, and then suddenly two things happen at once and you're on some random page you didn't want.
Honor: Exactly! And then there's the really annoying one... have you ever tried to tap a link on a website, and right before you touch it, the whole page shifts down and you tap something else?
Lauren: Yes! I hate that! It's like the website is playing keep-away with me. I'm trying to click the menu and suddenly I've signed up for a newsletter.
Honor: Google hates it too. They actually penalize sites that do that. It's called layout shift.
Lauren: So Google is basically grading websites on whether they're annoying to use.
Honor: That's actually a perfect way to put it. And faster sites get rewarded with higher rankings. Pages on page one of Google have an average load time of just 1.65 seconds.
Lauren: One point six five! So if your competitor loads in 2 seconds and you take 5...
Honor: You're giving them an advantage in every single search. And there's real data on this. A site that loads in 1 second converts two and a half times better than one that loads in 5 seconds.
Lauren: That's like... you're running a store but you've got a bouncer at the door making people wait in line for no reason. And your competitor next door has the door wide open.
Honor: That's exactly what it is. You're turning customers away before they even get inside.
Lauren: So what makes websites slow in the first place?
Honor: Usually a few things... huge images that weren't compressed, too much junk code, and cheap hosting. Those DIY builders like Wix and Squarespace? They only pass Google's speed tests about half the time.
Lauren: Oh... so all that drag-and-drop convenience has a hidden cost. It's like ordering a salad but it comes buried under a pound of croutons.
Honor: Ha! Yeah, there's a lot of extra code running behind the scenes that you don't see, but your visitors' browsers have to load all of it.
Lauren: Okay so what can someone actually do about this? How do I check my own site?
Honor: Google has a free tool. Go to pagespeed.web.dev... type in your website address... and it'll show you your scores. Green is good. Red means you're losing customers right now.
Lauren: So the moral of the story is... go to pagespeed.web.dev and check your site. If you're seeing red and orange, especially on mobile, that's costing you real customers.
Honor: That's it. And if you want to skip the headache entirely...
Lauren: Give YouGrow a call!
Honor: Yeah... every YouGrow site is built fast by default. No bloated page builders. Images automatically optimized. You don't have to think about it. 79 dollars a month... month-to-month... cancel anytime. We're right here in Arroyo Grande.
Lauren: Love it. Alright, this has been 805 Web Minute. Thanks for listening.