Why Website Speed Matters: Technical Guide to Sub-2-Second Load Times

The Business Case for Speed

Let's start with the numbers that matter:

• **Amazon** found that every 100ms of latency cost them 1% in sales
• **Google** confirmed page speed is a ranking factor
• **Walmart** saw a 2% conversion increase for every 1-second improvement

Understanding Core Web Vitals

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Measures how long it takes for the main content to load.

• **Good**: Under 2.5 seconds
• **Needs Improvement**: 2.5-4 seconds
• **Poor**: Over 4 seconds

First Input Delay (FID)

Measures interactivity—how quickly your site responds to user actions.

• **Good**: Under 100ms
• **Poor**: Over 300ms

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Measures visual stability—do elements jump around as the page loads?

• **Good**: Under 0.1
• **Poor**: Over 0.25

Image Optimization: The Low-Hanging Fruit

Images typically account for 50-80% of a page's weight:

• Use modern formats (WebP, AVIF)
• Implement lazy loading
• Serve responsive images for different screen sizes

JavaScript Optimization

• Code splitting: Only load JavaScript needed for the current page
• Tree shaking: Remove unused code
• Defer non-critical scripts

Server-Side Optimizations

• Use a CDN for Australian visitors
• Implement aggressive caching
• Enable Gzip/Brotli compression

Need Expert Help?

Speed optimization requires both technical expertise and ongoing monitoring. Contact us for a free performance audit of your website.