Google usually doesn’t talk publicly about the ranking factors in their algorithm.

So when they talk a lot about a specific ranking signal, you KNOW it’s a big deal.

Site loading speed is one of those rare ranking factors.

This is why I highly recommend making your site load as quickly as possible.

(Especially on mobile devices.)

Your first step is to benchmark your site’s current loading speed. That way, you know where you’re at before you start making changes.

I recommend the super-helpful PageSpeed Insights tool.

After all, the recommendations you get from this tool come from Google themselves.

Plus, it doesn’t just tell you if your page is fast or slow. The tool gives you a detailed report that includes ways you can improve.

If you want to dig deeper with page speed stuff, check out Web Page Test.

It’s a free tool that tends to give a more accurate feel of how your site loads to actual users.

Either way, here are a few ways you can improve your site’s loading speed.

• Compress Images: This is a big one. Images tend to make up the bulk of a page’s size (in terms of KB). Which is why I recommend using a tool like Kraken.io to shrink your image sizes.
• Use Lightweight Themes: Bulky WordPress themes can slow things down. So if your theme isn’t optimized for speed, consider switching to one that is.
• Use Lazy Loading: Lazy loading images can boost your site’s loading speed by 50% or more. The downside is that images show up as users scroll down the page, which isn’t great for UX. So it’s a tradeoff.
• Use a CDN: CDNs serve images and other media on your site on servers that are close to your users.

Source: Backlinko “SEO Best Practices”