Suppose you have the most informative website in the world. If it doesn’t load fast enough, it’s useless because there are some website performance metrics you need to understand. Despite all the effort you’ve put into creating relevant content for your customers, optimal website performance is the only way to ensure it gets the traction it deserves.
However, it’s not just about having a visually appealing website or adding beautiful images. Web performance optimization prioritizes the user experience, ensuring that website visitors get exactly what they’re looking for when they’re looking for it.
Beyond user engagement, improving a site’s performance increases the chances of a conversion rate and even favorable brand perception.
You will have limited control over certain things (such as Google algorithm updates). However, you wouldn’t want to lose potential customers because of website optimization issues that could have been remedied. After all, it’s easy to open a different browser tab, find faster websites, and access information quickly.
That said, how can you track your website’s performance? But why is it essential?
Why is website performance important?
Web performance is a direct indicator of how well your website is working. Site loading speed is the first thing a user notices.
You can compare this to the physical door of a clothing store – if your store’s doors weigh several tons and customers can’t open them, they’re likely to go elsewhere. The easier it is for customers to walk through the door, the more likely they will stay. The same goes for your website.
Optimizing website performance has a significant impact on the customer experience. A high-performing website will help you:
- Reduce your bounce rate.
- Improve visitor retention.
- Improve your website conversions and sales.
- Prioritize your search engine optimization.
Top 5 website performance indicators to watch
While the metrics you track will depend on your goals, there are 10 website performance metrics that provide a 360-degree performance assessment regardless of your business benchmarks.
1. Page speed
This is probably the most important metric for monitoring web performance. Page speed measures the time it takes for a user to click through to load an entire page with all of its content fully, be it text, video, images, or anything else. The fastest and easiest way to measure your website’s page speed is through Google Page Speed Insights.
2. Unique visitors
This metric tells you how many unique users visit your site in a given period. If this number increases, your ads will work well, and you will provide valuable content to your target audience.
3. Error rate
This metric tracks the percentage of problems generated by your website compared to the total number of requests. You know you’re on the verge of a significant problem if you notice an upward slope in these numbers. By keeping an eye on the error rate, you can diagnose and fix problems preventively. However, you can face challenges bringing your entire site down without monitoring your error rate.
4. Conversion rate
Depending on your marketing strategy, there may be all sorts of conversions you want to measure. For example, conversions from website visitor to lead, from lead to customer, or even from a simple visitor directly to a customer. This metric tells you how effective your pages are when getting users to perform a particular action.
5. Maximum response time
Peak Response Time or Maximum Response Time, as the name suggests, measures the longest load time, giving you insight into which elements of your web application are underperforming.
Conclusion on website performance metrics
Whether you plan to build a new website or simply optimize your existing website for better performance, the 5 website performance metrics above can help you get a clear picture of user behavior on your website and its overall performance.
By optimizing the features you can control, such as site speed and the number of assets, you can make your website more user-friendly and encourage visitors to spend more time on your pages.
While you can’t technically control how visitors behave on your site, you can optimize your content to stimulate behavior.
And if you need help, contact us and we can help.