Slow website speed is one of the greatest deterrents when it comes to conversions. Having a quick website is essential because a few extra seconds can make a tremendous impact on your bottom line, your brand’s reputation, and your ranking with search engines.
A one-second delay can cause a 7% decrease in your conversion rate and it only gets worse from there. A site that takes three or more seconds to load can result in an abandonment rate as high as 40%! It goes without saying, if consumers don’t stay on a site, there is zero chance for conversion.
And if you haven’t updated your site to be mobile friendly, it’s time to put that task on the front burner. Search engines like Google and Bing, include site speed as a critical component of algorithms used to determine where in search results your website is listed. And Google has upped the ante with its mobile-first indexing which ranks all search results based on the mobile versions of pages.
According to Google, three-second load time is best practice but, in reality, attained by a few sites. Google found that the average time to fully load a mobile landing page is 22 seconds. Considering that the probability of bounce increases by 90% when page load time goes from one second to five seconds, Google’s findings should be cause for concern and motivation to take action.
There are a number of factors that impact the time each of your site pages takes to load. This means there are a number of steps you can take to improve your site’s overall speed and user experience. Not all of these factors need to be handled at once. But if you tackle them one by one, you’ll greatly improve your site speed which will keep the search engines happy, maintain a positive brand reputation, and, ultimately, benefit your bottom line.
1. Minimize HTTP requests
An HTTP request is made for each different on-page component like images, scripts, and stylesheets, that downloads. The more elements on a page, the longer it takes for the page to render. Reducing the number of HTTP requests will speed up your site’s download time so eliminate any are unnecessary.
2. Use asynchronous loading for CSS and JavaScript files
Scripts like CSS and JavaScript can be loaded in two different ways. When scripts load synchronously, they load one at a time in the order in which they appear on the page. When scripts load asynchronously, some scripts will load simultaneously. Setting files to load asynchronously can speed up your page load times because it will reduce or eliminate the times that the browser stops loading to wait on a particular file to fully load.
3. Defer JavaScript loading
When you defer a file, you prevent it from loading until after other elements on the page have loaded. You can defer larger files, such as JavaScript, to make sure the rest of your content loads quickly.
4. Reduce server response time
The amount of time your domain name system, or DNS, lookup takes is a significant factor in how quickly your page loads. A DNS is a server with a database of IP addresses and their associated hostnames. When a user types a URL into their browser, a DNS server is what translates that URL into the IP address that indicates its location online. The amount of time this process takes depends on the speed of your DNS provider. If you find your current server response time is hindering your site speed, you may want to look into switching to a faster DNS provider.
5. Choose the right hosting option for your needs
There are three different options for hosting: shared hosting, VPS hosting, and a dedicated server. Shared hosting is least expensive and requires that you share with other sites hosted on that server resources such as disk space, RAM, and CPU. VPS hosting still has you sharing a server with other websites but provides you a dedicated portion of the server’s resources.
A dedicated server provides the most space but is also the most expensive option. A dedicated server does require more work in regards to the technical setup and configuration but it provides you complete control over your hosting. You may, for budgetary reasons, begin with a shared hosting situation. The key is to keep tabs on the impact your hosting choice is having on your site speed so you can upgrade as needed.
6. Use external hosting platforms
Video files can take up over 100MB and cause you to quickly exceed the space you have on a shared server or violate terms of the server’s Acceptable Use policy. Large video files can also cause pauses and lags in playback if your server has a limited amount of bandwidth. To eliminate those issues, you can use external hosting platforms like YouTube or Vimeo for some of your larger video files and simply embed the video on your website. This strategy is easy to do and allows quicker load times of your web pages.
7. Enable compression
The smaller your files are, the more quickly they will load and the faster your overall load times will be. By compressing files as small as you can without sacrificing quality, you can avoid bulky, slow files and speed up download times.
8. Enable browser caching
When you visit a website, the elements on the page are temporarily stored on your hard drive in a cache so the next time you visit the site, your browser can load the page without having to send another HTTP request to the server. Because only a few components are required to download for future visits, the load time is noticeably decreased.
9. Reduce image sizes
Images are often large files that slow down page load times. Because images are such an important component of an engaging website, eliminating them is not an option. You can, however, reduce your image file sizes without much effort. You can crop images to the correct size which, in turn, helps reduce the total size of each page. You can also compress image files using tools like WP Smush and Compressor.io.
The type of file you use for images also impacts the file’s size. JPG is usually the best option for photos while PNGs work well when you need to have crisp details showing. GIFs are the last option and should be used sparingly for animated images or simple graphics with a minimal color palette and smaller size (less than 10x10 pixels). It is best practice to avoid using TIFFs and BMPs.
10. Prioritize above-the-fold content (lazy loading)
Lazy loading is when you have the content at the top of the page (above the fold) load first and then have the rest of the page content load. This process is especially useful if the page content includes images or other items that tend to load more slowly. By presenting the content within view first, the user can begin accessing the page right away. There are a number of resources to implement this strategy. The Intersection API and Lozad.js are just two of the options out there.
11. Reduce the number of plugins you use on your site
Plugins allow you to add custom functionality to your site, improve user experience, eliminate the need to work with a lot of code, and so on. The downside of having multiple plugins installed is that they can slow down your site to the extent of causing crashes and other technical issues. Updating the plugins your site needs and either deactivating or deleting plugins that are no longer necessary can improve your overall site speed.
12. Reduce redirects
Redirects are the easiest way to eliminate broken link issues. Unfortunately, having too many redirects creates the need for additional HTTP requests. This can impact your site speed, especially where mobile devices are concerned. Entirely eliminating redirects is best practice in the eyes of Google but if that is not possible, minimize the use of them as much as you can.
13. Monitor your speed over time
It is important to continuously keep an eye on your site speed even after you’ve realized an acceptable load time. Due to the number of factors that can influence your site’s speed, it can change without notice. You can maintain an acceptable speed by catching issues as they happen. Regular monitoring of page load times is the most effective strategy to implement.
14. Monitor mobile page speed
A quick and positive mobile user experience is imperative to your site’s rankings and the satisfaction level of site visitors. You can use Google’s Test My Site to audit your page speed and gain an understanding of how it compares to recommended best practices. This resource also provides an estimate of the number of visitors lost because of slower load times. In addition, Google provides a comparison with other brands in your industry so you gain an understanding of how you match up with your competitors.
To Summarize:
1. Minimize HTTP requests
2. Use asynchronous loading for CSS and JavaScript files
3. Defer JavaScript loading
4. Reduce server response time
5. Choose the right hosting option for your needs
6. Use external hosting platforms
7. Enable compression
8. Enable browser caching
9. Reduce image sizes
10. Prioritize above-the-fold content (lazy loading)
11. Reduce the number of plugins you use on your site
12. Reduce redirects
13. Monitor your speed over time
14. Monitor mobile page speed
The best approach is to investigate which issues have the greatest impact on your load times and address them first. Then work your way through the items that have a lesser impact on your site. When you consider the influence that a single second difference can have on conversion rates, each step towards a faster web site will positively impact your bottom line.
The experts at Strategy Driven Marketing understand the importance of site speed and also understand the frustrations that can come with the challenging task of cleaning things up to speed things up. Whether you are ready for a fabulous new Squarespace website or want to work on updating the site you have, the team at SDM is ready to help. Contact us today to get started!
Cover photo by Chris Peeters from Pexels