Page load speed is a critical factor that search engines use to determine ranking and end users experience firsthand. This case study demonstrates how LaunchUX offers better page load speeds than two national competitors and what that means for our web hosting clients.

Why Does Page Load Speed Matter?

For a professional website, there are two primary concerns when it comes to web page loading times:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

It is often said that page loading speeds affect SEO, but exactly how it factors into a web page’s overall SEO score is rarely depicted clearly as it is in these side-by-side comparisons where the results are expressed in easily-understood letter grades. Search engines – in this case Google and Yahoo – want to provide their users with the best possible experience, which includes sending them to pages with the fastest page load times (among other factors). In other words, these scores could be said to express how search engines experience the technical aspects of a website.

User Experience (UX)

On the other side, are the human visitors to a website, and the major factors of consideration here are impressions and page abandonment. A recent survey found that 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. Another found that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than three seconds to load. Not only does a slow page load speed increase bounce rates and reduce conversions, but it also affects the overall brand image of the company.

The Page Load Speed Test:

To conduct this triple-header page load speed comparison, we loaded an identical fresh install of WordPress using Namecheap, GoDaddy and LaunchUX. The sessions were then graded using the testing platform GTmetrix.

About the Independent Testing Platform:

GTmetrix uses 27 recommendations from Google’s PageSpeed and 18 recommendations from Yahoo’s YSlow. GTmetrix performs the tests simultaneously and distills the results into general performance scores assessing various factors affecting the web page’s load time, which can be further examined in detail.  

Page Load Speed Test Results:

With the fresh install of WordPress, Namecheap and GoDaddy both took 3 seconds to load and got a PageSpeed score of 95% (A) and a YSlow score of 89% (B).

According to GTmetrix, the average PageSpeed score is 74% and the average YSlow score is 77%.

LaunchUX loaded in 1.8 seconds and received a PageSpeed score of 98% (A) and a YSlow score of 94% (A).

Key Takeaways:

• LaunchUX’s hosting service beat Namecheap and GoDaddy’s page load times by 1.2 seconds and scored higher in both PageSpeed and YSlow.
• Keep in mind that these results are based on a blank, fresh install of WordPress. Once a website is built on this foundation, these times will only grow because more resources like system memory are being used, so it’s important to shave as many seconds as possible wherever you can.
• LaunchUX uses commercial-grade software and web building tools like LiteSpeed [learn more about why we use LiteSpeed here] so businesses can put forth the best possible online presence without sacrificing their page load scores. Namecheap and GoDaddy rely on open source alternatives such as Apache, which aren’t as effective at maintaining an ideal page load speed. Professional businesses should rely on commercial-grade software solutions – both customers and search engines will notice the difference.
• Once you factor in the add-ons such as SSL-certificates, backups, etc. (all included with LaunchUX), Namecheap, GoDaddy and LaunchUX are competitively priced but LaunchUX gives you more speed for your money.

Conclusion

When we’re talking about overall web optimization, we’re talking about:

“Secure, fast-loading websites that deliver quality, regularly-updated content whether it is accessible on a computer, a smartphone or a tablet while maintaining an active social media presence.”

These test results demonstrate and confirm LaunchUX’s detailed efforts on the “fast-loading” component of that sentence because users and search engines respond to everything – even if they aren’t consciously aware of it.

To learn more about our comprehensive approach optimization that puts equal emphasis on human users and search engines and put your current website to the test (the consultation is free!) contact us today.