The speed with which your website loads can have a big impact on page views, search engine rankings, and conversions. We will show you how to speed up your website in this article.
How quick, though, should your website be? According to specialists, your website should load in less than five seconds.
Each additional second of loading time reduces conversions by 4.4 percent on average.
With that in mind, begin by doing a speed test on your website. If your website is taking longer than five seconds to load, it’s time to make some changes.
So, without further ado, let’s look at some techniques to make your website load faster.
Table of Contents
Optimize Images to Speed Up Your Website
One of the most prevalent causes of delayed loading times is images. That’s because, unlike simple texts, image files are far more important because they include a great deal of data.
Unoptimized photographs, for example, can take up a few gigabytes of storage. Given that Google advises that a web page be no more than 500 kilobytes in size, images can be a major issue, especially if you’re utilizing a lot of them.
Images, on the other hand, are an important aspect of your content because they make it more appealing to the viewer.
As a result, you must not compromise on their quality. However, how can you speed up the loading process without sacrificing image quality? Simply by lowering the size of their files.
For example, if you’re using WordPress, Smush is an excellent plugin that will automatically compress your images, or you may use Compress JPEG if you’re using another sort of platform.
Make sure you’ve picked the best file type for your photographs before you begin editing them. You can use a variety of files, including:
- PNG — creates higher-quality images, but the file size is bigger. Although it was designed to be a lossless image format, it can also be lossy.
- JPEG – uses lossy and lossless optimization. You can adjust the quality level for a good balance of quality and file size.
- GIF – only uses 256 colors. For animated graphics, it’s the ideal option. Only lossless compression is used.
Remove Any Plugins That Aren’t Required
Remember to keep an eye on your plugins if you’re using WordPress. Yes, plugins are necessary for your website’s success.
However, because they’re so simple to use and add to your site’s functionality, it’s easy to end up with more plugins than you need.
This will result in a variety of issues, one of which is delayed loading times.
As a result, take your time to figure out which plugins you may remove. This will not only increase the performance of your website, but it will also make website maintenance more accessible.
Enable Browser Caching
The trouble is, when a user sees your website for the first time, he will have to download HTML documents, JavaScript files, photos, and other items, which may take a few seconds.
If browser caching is off, the user’s browser will have to download everything over every time he visits your page.
By enabling caching, the data that has been downloaded will be saved in the browser, allowing your website to load significantly faster for repeat visits.
Use a Content Delivery Network
A CDN reduces the time it takes for information on your website to move from a server to a user. It works by utilizing a network of servers located all over the world.
As a result, when a visitor visits your website, the information will be fetched from the server nearest to them, resulting in a faster loading time.
There are many CDNs to choose from, both free and premium, such as Cloudfare or StackPath.
Select the Best Hosting Option to Speed Up Your Website
People frequently settle for the cheapest hosting option available. While this may work at first, an upgrade will be required at some time in the future for optimal loading speeds, especially when their websites begin to receive more traffic.
If you find yourself in this scenario, take the time to determine which hosting solution is ideal for you. You have the option of choosing shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting.
The former is the most cost-effective alternative for new websites. However, because you’ll be sharing certain resources, such as disk space and RAM, with other sites housed on the same server, your loading times will suffer as you gain traction.
The latter is the most expensive option, but it also provides the fastest loading times. It should be the preferred option for websites with a large number of visitors, whereas VPS is a good compromise between the two.
It’s best to upgrade your website gradually as your traffic grows.
Use Lazy Loading
This is a standard technique for boosting the performance of a website, especially if it has a lot of images. It works by loading the material above the fold first, then the rest of the page once that’s finished.
You could even program it such that stuff that isn’t visible on the user’s screen doesn’t load until he scrolls down the page.
The user’s browser would not have to load all of your website’s content at once, resulting in a substantially faster initial loading speed.
Host Videos Externally
Videos, like photos, take up a lot of space and have a negative impact on the performance of your website.
Compressing movies, unlike photos, is not a good idea because it will most likely reduce their quality.
As a result, you should first post your films to third-party services like YouTube before embedding them on your website.
Reduce HTTP Requests
When a user’s browser requests something from the server, such as an image or an HTTP file, an HTTP request is made. The server will send a response to each request, which takes time.
To put it another way, the more HTTP requests you have, the longer your website will take to load.
According to Google, you should have no more than 50 HTTP requests. A speed test can be used to determine the number of requests.
There are two methods for lowering the amount of HTTP requests. You can either delete some of them or merge them into a single file.
With that in mind, go through your files and determine which ones aren’t necessary.
Reduce Redirects
When it comes to a large number of HTTP requests, the number of redirection may also be a factor.
Redirects are instructions that automatically move the user from one location to another. They’re most commonly used to send consumers to device-specific URLs.
When a visitor comes to your website on a mobile device, for example, he will be routed from “www.example.com” to “m.example.com,” which is a positive thing.
Your redirect pattern, on the other hand, may take the user from “www.example.com” to “m.example.com” and then to “m.example.com/home.” As you can see, the last one is superfluous and will lengthen the time it takes a user to reach your website.
That’s why you should look for and remove any unnecessary redirects.
Update On A Regular Basis
Finally, whether you’re using WordPress or another Content Management System (CMS), remember to check for new updates on a regular basis.
They almost always include fixes and other enhancements that may improve the performance of your website.
Final Thoughts
Optimizing the loading speed of your website might be a difficult process.
However, in the long term, it will be worthwhile because it will not only increase your conversion rate, but it will also lower your bounce rate and boost your search engine results.
