Everyone gets a little bit upset when website loads slowly or parts of its elements load more slowly than others. Restless users frequently quit such websites without leaving a digital trace. Visitors that wait too long cost publishers and advertisers money. Because of this, page speed is crucial for user retention... and revenue. Publishers may be able to raise quality and conversion rates while also speeding up their pages thanks to technological advancements. Lazy loading is one of these solutions. 

Here is a Yieldbirds take on the topic of improving lazy loading to increase publisher's revenue. 

Lazy loading is an optimization strategy for online content, including websites and web applications.

The idea of lazy loading helps in accessing only the necessary piece and delaying loading the remaining until the user needs it. Bulk loading means getting the complete website and rendering it to the user all at once.

This process is called “lazy” because it delays loading until the content is really needed.

Is it diffcult to implement lazy loading? 

Utilizing JavaScript code, the lazy loading technique loads the contents above the fold after determining where the user is on the webpage. An appropriate plug-in or manual implementation of such a script are both possible.

There are several Open Source libraries that provide this solution, including:

• yall.js – a lightweight library of only 1.64 KB and compatible with all modern browsers
• blazy.js – a lightweight JavaScript library, useful when loading many images or iframe elements (needed for embedding nested content)
• LazyLoad – a script that automatically loads images when they are in the user’s field of view
• lazysizes – a library that positively impacts positioning, and also provides some additional plug-ins with other functionalities

The benefits of lazy loading for publishers. 

The list of all benefits is pretty extensive, so we will focus on the crucial advantages for digital publishers. 

Publishers are frequently hesitant to deploy the lazy loading solution because it is connected with a decrease in the number of ad requests on ad units that need to be loaded. However, in our assessment, the initial reduction in ad requests is compensated by later improvements in quality metrics such as Viewability, which also relates to rPM and eCPM. With much more Viewability, we have a better chance of boosting the size of the shares, for instance in PMP.

Lazy loading can provide extra benefits in addition to enhancing advertising KPIs like as viewability and performance:

• reducing the number of people that leave the website without taking any action, as measured by the bounce rate in Google Analytics;
• increasing the user session duration;

Decreasing network and server strain since no unneeded data would be sent;

Ensuring a better user experience; since the user sees the material that has already been loaded while scrolling; 

Better results of the Core Web Vitals influence how the website is positioned from a search engine standpoint. 

Why are Web Core Vitals so important?

Core Web Vitals are metrics that are claimed to influence a website's position in the google search engines. If the Core Web Vitals (CWV) metrics are low, it will be harder to reach the user, resulting in lower traffic volumes and reduced revenues for the Publishers.

Publishers must deal with continual changes and fluctuations in the advertising business, which can have a powerful effect on revenue. Publishers should undertake all of the necessary preparations for enhancing the performance of their websites. Furthermore, well-implemented slow loading can improve the quality of Publishers' advertising inventory. On top of that, the higher your web core vitals, the more organic traffic you get, and more quality traffic means higher revenue.