According to BrowserStack, the average website loading speed in 2025 is 2.5 seconds for desktop devices and 8.6 seconds for mobile devices. However, the mobile figure is less relevant in regions with widespread 4G and Wi-Fi, such as Tier-1 countries (e.g., the US, UK, or Canada), where 53% of users refuse to wait more than 3 seconds for a website to load.
A study from Deloitte Digital highlights that improving loading speed by just 0.1 seconds can increase conversion rates by 40%.
In addition to the overall CR growth of 40%, when the website loading time is increased by 0.1 seconds, specific characteristics also increase. For example, the website receives 5% more views and has an 8% higher conversion rate from mobile users.
But if speed were as important as they say, website owners would remove all non-text content to maximize speed, which isn’t happening. This raises the question: What is the optimal loading speed for maximizing CR and minimizing CPC? In this article, the YeezyPay team, a service that provides access to trusted Google Ads agency accounts, will provide a clear, detailed answer to this question based on Google’s recommendations, research, affiliate experiences, and insights from our own experience.
And according to Google, the quality score is calculated from the final value of three different parameters:
Google specifically recommends that the largest image or content element on a page (known as Largest Contentful Paint, or LCP) should load in 2.5 seconds or less. This effectively means the entire landing page should load within this timeframe to achieve optimal performance. If the loading speed exceeds 4 seconds, the Quality Score drops, leading to a higher CPC, as Google considers the page less user-friendly and less likely to satisfy users.
If loading speed exceeds 4 seconds, Quality Score drops, and cost per click increases.
Therefore, to improve Quality Score and achieve a lower CPC, affiliates should aim to keep their landing page speed in the “green zone” (2.5 seconds or faster).
However, Google’s algorithms don’t automatically detect speed improvements. For the system to recognize a faster page, user behavior must reflect the change, such as increased engagement, longer time spent on the website, or more conversions, which can take weeks to register.
Affiliates using Google Ads agency accounts from YeezyPay can accelerate this process by leveraging the unlimited daily ad spend perk to drive a lot of traffic to the landing page. Doing this increases both Expected CTR and Landing Page Quality, potentially raising the Quality Score in just a few days.
While faster loading times are generally better, there’s a “green zone” for website speed, approximately 1.5 to 2 seconds, where users are most likely to trust and engage with a website.
According to research done by Neil Patel, 47% of users surveyed consider this range ideal. If a page loads faster than 1 second, users may perceive it as empty or untrustworthy, suspecting it lacks substance or is a low-quality website. If it takes longer than 2 seconds, users are more likely to leave, finding the wait frustrating and losing interest.
Interestingly, users often perceive loading times as slower than they actually are, especially for pages taking 3 seconds or more, exaggerating the delay by about 1.5–2 seconds in their minds.
So just by keeping landing page speed within the 1.5–2-second range, affiliates can align with this “user flow,” increasing CR by creating a seamless and trustworthy experience. This improved user engagement signals to Google’s algorithms that the page is high-quality, which boosts Quality Score and reduces CPC.
According to this user, the importance of speed increases in highly competitive niches.
However, some affiliates highlight cases where loading speed is less critical:
The affiliate shares that while smaller players are thinking about speed, large ones can push through Quality Score simply by virtue of their name.
However, for affiliates working with their own landing pages, especially in grayhat niches like gambling or crypto, speed becomes a critical factor.
One affiliate shared that after optimizing their landing page to improve Core Web Vitals, their CPC dropped by 15% and CPM by 20%, demonstrating the direct impact of speed on ad costs.
However, using custom landing pages often comes with a challenge: they are typically hosted on shared servers, which split resources among thousands of websites. When traffic increases, these servers may struggle, slowing down the website and hurting performance. Google Ads agency accounts from YeezyPay can help by allowing affiliates to distribute their budget across multiple landing pages or mirror websites, ensuring traffic isn’t lost if one server fails.
Here is a small checklist with tools that will help your website load faster. This is nothing more than a short list of recommendations that have always worked: if you know about them, you can easily raise your Quality Score:
A study from Deloitte Digital highlights that improving loading speed by just 0.1 seconds can increase conversion rates by 40%.
In addition to the overall CR growth of 40%, when the website loading time is increased by 0.1 seconds, specific characteristics also increase. For example, the website receives 5% more views and has an 8% higher conversion rate from mobile users.
But if speed were as important as they say, website owners would remove all non-text content to maximize speed, which isn’t happening. This raises the question: What is the optimal loading speed for maximizing CR and minimizing CPC? In this article, the YeezyPay team, a service that provides access to trusted Google Ads agency accounts, will provide a clear, detailed answer to this question based on Google’s recommendations, research, affiliate experiences, and insights from our own experience.
What website loading speed is recommended by Google itself?
Google Ads uses a metric called Quality Score to determine an advertiser’s position in the ad auction and the cost per click. According to data from the WordStream media outlet, a Quality Score of 1 can increase CPC by four times, while a score of 10 can reduce it by 50%.
And according to Google, the quality score is calculated from the final value of three different parameters:
- Expected CTR — a parameter that indicates the likelihood that users will click on an ad, based on its content and how well it matches the user’s search intent.
- Ad relevance — a parameter by which Google determines how closely the ad aligns with the user’s search query, location, and personal data, ensuring it meets their needs.
- Landing Page Quality — a parameter that shows Google Ads how useful, relevant, and user-friendly your landing page is, including its content, navigation, and technical performance.
Google specifically recommends that the largest image or content element on a page (known as Largest Contentful Paint, or LCP) should load in 2.5 seconds or less. This effectively means the entire landing page should load within this timeframe to achieve optimal performance. If the loading speed exceeds 4 seconds, the Quality Score drops, leading to a higher CPC, as Google considers the page less user-friendly and less likely to satisfy users.
If loading speed exceeds 4 seconds, Quality Score drops, and cost per click increases.
Therefore, to improve Quality Score and achieve a lower CPC, affiliates should aim to keep their landing page speed in the “green zone” (2.5 seconds or faster).
However, Google’s algorithms don’t automatically detect speed improvements. For the system to recognize a faster page, user behavior must reflect the change, such as increased engagement, longer time spent on the website, or more conversions, which can take weeks to register.
Affiliates using Google Ads agency accounts from YeezyPay can accelerate this process by leveraging the unlimited daily ad spend perk to drive a lot of traffic to the landing page. Doing this increases both Expected CTR and Landing Page Quality, potentially raising the Quality Score in just a few days.
What psychology research says about preferred website loading speed
Psychological research introduces the concept of “user flow,” which describes the optimal state where users feel comfortable, engaged, and trusting while interacting with a website.While faster loading times are generally better, there’s a “green zone” for website speed, approximately 1.5 to 2 seconds, where users are most likely to trust and engage with a website.
According to research done by Neil Patel, 47% of users surveyed consider this range ideal. If a page loads faster than 1 second, users may perceive it as empty or untrustworthy, suspecting it lacks substance or is a low-quality website. If it takes longer than 2 seconds, users are more likely to leave, finding the wait frustrating and losing interest.
Interestingly, users often perceive loading times as slower than they actually are, especially for pages taking 3 seconds or more, exaggerating the delay by about 1.5–2 seconds in their minds.
So just by keeping landing page speed within the 1.5–2-second range, affiliates can align with this “user flow,” increasing CR by creating a seamless and trustworthy experience. This improved user engagement signals to Google’s algorithms that the page is high-quality, which boosts Quality Score and reduces CPC.
What do affiliates say about preferred website loading speed, and in which situations does speed not matter?
The opinion of affiliates is contradictory: everyone admits that website speed is important, but not everyone puts it first. An experienced affiliate in a forum discussion recommends maintaining a PageSpeed Insights score of 90+, which corresponds to Google’s 2.5-second-or-less benchmark for loading the largest content element.
According to this user, the importance of speed increases in highly competitive niches.
However, some affiliates highlight cases where loading speed is less critical:
- High-Quality websites: A well-designed website with engaging content can still perform well even if its speed is slightly slower. For example, a visually appealing landing page with strong branding and clear value propositions can retain users despite a load time slightly above 2.5 seconds. As one affiliate noted, “A website can be fast and fail, or slow and successful, but you still can’t ignore speed entirely.”
- Trusted Brands: Another similar case is large, reputable corporations like Amazon, eBay, or licensed casinos (e.g., Mohegan Sun), often have inherently high Quality Scores due to their established reputation and trust with Google. Affiliates promoting these brands, such as linking directly to a product page on Amazon, may not need to prioritize speed as much, as the brand’s authority compensates for minor performance issues.
The affiliate shares that while smaller players are thinking about speed, large ones can push through Quality Score simply by virtue of their name.
However, for affiliates working with their own landing pages, especially in grayhat niches like gambling or crypto, speed becomes a critical factor.
One affiliate shared that after optimizing their landing page to improve Core Web Vitals, their CPC dropped by 15% and CPM by 20%, demonstrating the direct impact of speed on ad costs.
However, using custom landing pages often comes with a challenge: they are typically hosted on shared servers, which split resources among thousands of websites. When traffic increases, these servers may struggle, slowing down the website and hurting performance. Google Ads agency accounts from YeezyPay can help by allowing affiliates to distribute their budget across multiple landing pages or mirror websites, ensuring traffic isn’t lost if one server fails.
Results + recommendations for increasing website loading speed
Indeed, the CR and CPC indicators in Google Ads are affected by a decrease in speed from 4 seconds or more to 2.5 seconds or less, and if the website loads in 1.5-2 seconds, the CR will increase directly. After that, acceleration is no longer important: users will not notice the difference between 1.4 and 1.5 seconds, and Google will not take it into account at all.Here is a small checklist with tools that will help your website load faster. This is nothing more than a short list of recommendations that have always worked: if you know about them, you can easily raise your Quality Score:
- Convert images from JPG and PNG to WebP: PNG is generally not recommended due to its high size.
- Compress images to the minimum acceptable quality.
- Use tools like Lazy Loading and JS & CSS minification.
- Keep your websites on CDN servers.
- Set up caching on both the server and client sides.
- Enable data compression on the server.
- Optimize your fonts and compress them, for example, with a tool like Font Squirrel.
- Be sure to analyze the HTML code of the website and remove all unnecessary parts from it.
