How fast should a website load?
Aim for the main content of each page to appear within 2.5 seconds on a phone. That is the point Google classes as "good". Every extra second costs visitors: according to Google's own research, the chance of someone leaving rises by about a third as load time goes from one second to three.
Why seconds matter so much
Most people find a local business on their phone, often on mobile data, often in a hurry. If the page is still blank after a few seconds, they press back and tap the next result. They do not wait, and they rarely come back.
Research published by Google found that as page load time goes from one second to three, the probability of a visitor bouncing rises by 32%. From one second to five, it rises by 90%.
The targets Google uses
Google measures speed and smoothness with three figures called Core Web Vitals. You do not need to memorise them, but these are the numbers that decide whether your site counts as good.
Google's "good" thresholds
That last row matters. Google does not judge your site on one lucky test. It looks at real visits over the previous 28 days, and at least three quarters of them need to hit the target.
How to check your own site
- Go to PageSpeed Insights and enter your web address.
- Look at the top section first. If it shows real-world data, that is how actual visitors experience your site.
- The lower section is a lab test. It is useful for finding problems, but a single run can vary.
- Check the mobile result, not just desktop. Mobile is almost always slower, and it is what most customers use.
The lab score out of 100 comes from a tool called Lighthouse. We have written a separate guide on what a Lighthouse score means and what counts as good.
If yours is slow
The usual culprits are oversized images, too many plugins, cheap overloaded hosting and heavy page builders. Our answer to why is my website slow? walks through each one.
The takeaway
- Aim for the main content to appear within 2.5 seconds on mobile.
- Visitors leave quickly: going from one to three seconds raises bounce risk by about a third.
- Test with PageSpeed Insights and trust the real-world data over a single lab run.
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