Shortly: As fast as ever possible.  However, that only sounds easy. Many websites put a lot of effort to optimize their page speed, thus it is crucial to know when you can feel sure that you are doing it right and ready to work on other projects

You will want to be checking your load times, so having a number in mind is crucial. In 2020, that time should be exactly 3 seconds or even less if it is possible. Now the interesting part, how to get this number and how to keep it. 

Time data of page-load in 2020 and why it is important

As a rule, webpages load in parts, thus, sometimes you see how some photos will load faster than text, or some form will load faster, or even an ad will appear first before the whole page appears. 

That is because all these various elements that fill up a webpage need to load. As a result, that reflects on overall load time.  Fully understanding how this load time works is crucial when you work on improving load time. Usually, this matters for two simple reasons: customers are quite impatient. Recently Google made an announcement that main web vitals are going to play a ranking factor, thus speed is the main component of the factor. 

How to assess your load time

There are several various tools that you can utilize to assess your overall load time on the website, but in our humble opinion and experience, Google PageSpeed Insights is the best free tool to work within the beginning. 

What load time should the webpage have in 2020?

You will see that it usually lays out everything that makes your website slower, and what you have to improve. Bear in mind that the mobile version is different from the desktop one when it relates to load time. 

According to a study from Backlinko, the common webpage needs about 86% longer to load on mobile in comparison with desktop. This is usually true because mobile phones have slower processors and CSS rules that are specific to their devices. 

Fear up the high-performing pages

If you have any pages with high performance, you should work with these pages apart because you have more possibilities to improve load speed on one page than the website on the whole. The smaller size of things you have to deal with, the quicker and easier it is for you to implement changes. Besides that, you will help a bigger impact.  

How can you optimize your page load time?

As soon as you will receive your roadmap from PageSpeed Insight to discover how to better your load time, it is time to take action. For the most part, you will need support from a developer to get rid of some codes that might be slowing your website. 

More often than not, you will have something like low-hanging fruit. We advise you to concentrate on the following at once before even working with the PageSpeed Insights or contacting a developer. 

• Improve your pictures for load time

For many websites, this is nearly always the most important thing that has an impact. That is why we have split this tip into a list so that you have precise recommendations. 

Firstly, we make use of the LazyLoad plugin to ensure that on-screen imaging is loading first. As a rule, every picture on the page loads at once, while no user still can not see them from the beginning. This way you can ensure not only loading speed but also good quality. 

• Optimize the pictures for size

There is a good chance you have quite a responsive website. This usually means you can load a picture or image, and it will be according to certain parameters on your website. However, with small pixel density comes faster picture load, thus it is crucial to only load pictures that have according to norms size. 

Put it another way, do not think that the website will do it for you. Or it will do, but it still will not bring the needed speed. 

• Optimize the images for format

Google wants to see everywhere image formats of the next generation like WebP or JPEG 2000 in contrast with JPGs and PNGs. Thus, think about converting some of your big pictures into these two formats to see a speed improvement. 

Optimize the content

This one seems unimportant, however, using breadcrumbs and internal linking may greatly optimize your user experience and support the website on the path of improving its speed and reach the top of the search engine.

Lessen redirects

It is quite clear. Every time one of your pages redirects to some other, you have extra time waiting for the HTTP request. Why your visitors should wait for redirect when they need a real thing? Thus, every second spent waiting really matters and may have an unpleasant outcome. 

Improve the hosting

If you are utilizing a so-so or bad-quality provider for web hosting, think about opting for a much better option for hosting. This may make a huge difference in your load times. 

Summary

You should be concentrating on these details and controlling your page speed at least once in a month to see any changes that might happen. As soon as you add more plugins and webpages you will see changes for sure. 

Many companies that work with developers once in a year, do it to refresh and do an audit for page speed.  And finally, remember that having page speed down to 3 seconds or even less is a great solution, however, it is still quite difficult to get unless you are starting from the very beginning. If you do not see any changes at once, stay calm, they will appear later. 

Many websites have around 6 second page load times. You do not want to be like most of them and lose your clients, do you?