Did you know that 47% of all internet users can only wait for two seconds for a website to load before they quit? That means if your website happens to load more than three seconds, you’re losing more user traffic than you can imagine. And that also means you’re losing all those potential leads and possible conversions you could be getting. This is why your website page speed is important.
And if that isn’t enough fact for you to pay attention to your website page speed, you should also know that your website loading speed can make or break your brand visibility on search engine page results (SERPs). The longer it takes for your website to load, the more it’s highly likely that your ranking gets affected.
If you’re doing SEO and social media, and even building business listings, but can’t seem to rank your website. Then, there’s a big possibility that your ranking is even affected by your page speed.
Here are eight tips to start improving your website page speed:
1 – Run a Free Page Speed Test
Want to know how fast your site loads? You can use a tool created by Google called PageSpeed Insights. PageSpeed Insights gives you a better visual presentation of how your site’s resources load. This makes it easier for you to spot any bottlenecks that could be slowing things down.
2 – Observe Your Site Loading Frame by Frame
Have you ever wondered how your website loads on a slower internet connection? With Chrome DevTools, you can use network throttling to slow things down and see exactly how your site loads, step by step. This gives you a clearer picture of what’s happening behind the scenes and helps you spot areas for improvement during optimization.
3 – Focus on Core Web Vitals Than Lighthouse Scores
Google’s Lighthouse tool is great for checking performance, but keep in mind that the Lighthouse score itself doesn’t directly impact your rankings. Plenty of sites with average scores still perform well in Core Web Vitals. What really counts is how actual visitors experience your site.
4 – Optimize Render-Blocking Resources
Render-blocking resources, like CSS and JavaScript, can make your site load more slowly. To boost your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) score, reduce how many of these requests your site makes. Use attributes such as “async” or “defer” in your script tags so your page can start loading before all the scripts are fully processed.
5 – Prioritize Important Images
Some images are key to making that great first impression, while others can take their time. Using the “fetchpriority” attribute, you can tell the browser which images need to load right away. For those that aren’t as urgent, the loading=”lazy” attribute makes sure they only pop up when they’re about to be seen on the screen.
6 – Minimize Page Weight
Page weight is basically how much data your website needs to download before it can fully load. The lighter it is, the faster your site will load. You can slim things down by using modern image formats like WebP or AVIF—they keep your images looking sharp but use less data. Don’t forget to compress your text files using HTTP compression methods like Brotli to make everything load even quicker.
7 – Understand Network Request Chains
One sure way to enhance loading speed is to improve the loading speed of your website’s resources. Typically, the way resources are linked can slow things on your website. But you can fix this by using preloads in your html. This creates signals for your browser to pull out important assets sooner so they will load faster.
8- Utilize Server-Side Rendering for Single-Page Applications
Single-page applications (SPAs) can feel slow at first because they depend a lot on JavaScript. To speed up that initial load, you might want to use server-side rendering (SSR). This approach helps your page show content faster and then smoothly transition into a fully interactive app.
Key Takeaways
Website page speed is one of the factors you shouldn’t overlook that can affect your ranking and brand visibility overtime. This is why it is highly recommended by web development experts to pay extra attention in optimizing your website for speed, especially if you want to rank high on SERPs and bring in conversion.
With these eight tips, you can have a better grasp on where to start with your website speed optimization. Once you have applied them, make sure to compare your old page speed test with the new speed test report. You also need to remember that continuous monitoring is the key to maintaining a good and optimal website performance.
Last but not least, if you don’t know where to start, it’s best to hire a web development expert like Cybertegic, a digital marketing agency in Pasadena that can help you optimize your website. Cybertegic can also help you develop your website, including optimizing it for optimal speed performance.