Limerick digital agency warns businesses about website speed

A LEADING digital agency headed by a Limerick man has carried out a study warning that business websites in Ireland are significantly behind the industry speed standard.

Agent Digital, run by managing director Kevin Meaney, has created a website speed report surveying the page loading times of over 1,000 individual Irish web sites.​

The survey highlights that the average website loading time in the domestic e-commerce sector was the slowest of all sectors looked at.

Websites take on average 10.35 seconds to load fully on a mobile device.

Mr Meaney said the research represents a wake-up call for all Irish businesses online.​

“Average load time for Irish websites is over three times the recommended standard. Research shows 53% will leave a mobile page if it takes longer than three seconds to load," Mr Meaney said.

He added: “More than 64% of Irish people are searching and in excess of 16% are purchasing goods and services online through mobile devices every week. But our data shows that Irish business websites are not fast enough to adequately serve this traffic.”

The study was compiled using Google’s web performance and speed test tools, with the Agent Digital team periodically testing the speeds of 1,081 individual Irish websites across 29 business sectors over a 12-month period.

Mr Meaney added: “It was important for us to create this speed report to highlight the issue to Irish businesses. Many Irish brands are simply not aware that their websites are too slow. Once the issue is highlighted it can be quickly addressed through effective website speed optimisation techniques.”