How does page speed affect rankings?

Page speed is a direct ranking factor for search engines like Google.

In short:
Faster pages rank better because they provide a better user experience.

Why it matters:

• User experience: Slow pages frustrate users → higher bounce rate
• Core Web Vitals: Metrics like loading speed and stability impact rankings
• Mobile performance: Speed is critical for mobile-first indexing
• Crawl efficiency: Faster sites help search engines crawl more pages

Bottom line:
If your site loads slowly, it can hurt both rankings and conversions; faster sites get an advantage.