In a world full of diversity and competition, there is no place for a slow website on the internet. A search engine user does not wait too long for websites to load. And now even that small wait has diminished to mere seconds. This user behavior has led to the inclusion of site speed as a factor of website ranking.
Some of you might be thinking why the website is not ranking in Google despite the quality of content? Well, there are a lot of factors like the speed of your website that might be acting as a speed bump on your path to rank number 1 on Google.
On this note, the article talks about why the website speed matters and factors that might be affecting your web page loading speed.
Why Your Website is Loading So Slowly?
There are a lot of reasons why your website could be taking a lot of time to load. Some of those factors weighing down your website are:
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Uncompressed huge media files.
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Un-optimized plugins and apps.
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Un-optimized code files.
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Too many website redirects.
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Too many ads.
Why Does Website Loading Speed Matter?
The speed of your website matters as online users don’t want to wait longer for your webpage to load. Research reveals that web sites that load within 2 seconds have an average bounce rate of 9%, but sites that take 5 seconds to load have a bounce rate of 38%.
The loading speed of a website matters as a fast loading page delivers a better user experience as it is easier to navigate on a fast website, then a slower one which takes time to load. For getting instant results, you can consult with the best website design company in Dubai to help you optimize your site. Because site speed does not only impact user experience, but it also affects the conversion rate and your revenue generation.
Top 8 Tips to Improve the Speed of Your Website
There are so many possible reasons behind your website loading speed that you may get overwhelmed at first considering all aspects. Where to begin? What factors have more significant impacts on web speed? How can I achieve instant speed? Start by analyzing your page and its loading speed. This will give you an overview of your website and where you can make improvements.
Following are some of the factors that can help you increase your website speed:
1. Manage JavaScript Files:
Mismanaged JavaScript files can significantly delay the website speed. When a browser has to load a webpage, it stops to fully load JavaScript files on the page. This is called “render-blocking JavaScript.” You can deal with them by:
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Removing external JavaScript files.
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Make sure JavaScript can load separately from the rest of the page.
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JavaScript loading should be a second priority, so defer it until the page is visible to the user.
2. Optimize CSS and HTML:
CSS is responsible for styling your web pages. Just like JavaScript, it can decrease the loading speed of your website if left un-optimized. Following are some of the ways to remedy the situation:
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Remove external CSS files and use an online option instead.
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If you have multiple CSS files, then combine them into one file.
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Specify when certain CSS files should be loaded to increase the speed.
3. Compress large media files:
One of the most common mistakes that web designers make is the use of large media files, such as images and videos. This slows down your website loading speed as it takes time to load the content. To prevent that, you can optimize your media files and compress the file size without changing the quality of the content.
4. Avoid too many plugins:
If your website has too many plugins or even a few large ones, it can significantly weigh down your website, resulting in increased loading time. Regularly update and maintain your website and remove any plugins that you are not using to minimize the chances of slow speed.
However, deactivating or deleting plugins without adequate knowledge can compromise the functionality of your website. A time-saving approach is to consult professional website maintenance company to help you with optimizing your website resources and related components to achieve good speed without disturbing website working.
5. Compress website resources:
Enable automatic compression on your web resources so you can decrease the size of transferred data up to 90%. Configure your servers and make sure that your website is uploading compressed content. You can also use GZIP compression for your website.
6. Use Browser Caching to your advantage:
Your website might be slow because of caching issues. Caching is the process of browser storing static copies of files related to your site. Browsers use it, so when a user accesses your website, the browsers can display the site content without having to reload the data. Make use of the caching solutions to speed up your website.
7. Avoid landing page redirects:
Landing page redirect has more than one redirect from a URL to a final page. This increases the loading time of a web page. Therefore, a slower site would lead to a higher bounce rate and hurt your SEO traffic. Use responsive design to eliminate redirects on your website.
8. Use Asynchronous Scripts:
Asynchronous script loading helps in loading scripts separately from the usual page. It is significantly helpful in increasing the loading speed of your website. In this way, the users don’t have to wait a lot for the web page to load.
Speed up Your Website beyond Limits!
There are several things that you can do to enhance the user experience of your website. Always optimize your web page to smooth out any speed bumps. If you have experienced a sudden drop in your site traffic, then it is time to re-evaluate the user experience of your site and enhance your website speed.
Don’t know how to do all this alone? Contact us today to get your website audit by experienced web designers and quality assurance experts for improved performance and user experience!