Website performance and optimization are two significant factors of a website. The website should deliver the content to the visitors as quickly as possible. People these days are used to browsing websites easily and quickly with high-speed internet, and thus have no time to wait even for an extra second! If it has good page speed and a responsive design, it also ends up increasing the conversion rate and decreasing the bounce rate.
What is Web Performance Optimization?
Web Performance Optimization is the process of improving the website’s speed and responsiveness. By doing this, the website will load faster which can lead to a better user experience and improved search engine rankings which further increases the conversion rates. It is the website page loading speed and its performance, that makes the user visit our website more often. For your business to be successful, you first need to have a successful website with good loading speed and responsive design.
Why Website Performance Matters?
Even though the slow-speed website matter doesn’t seem to be a major one, it can affect your entire business. Even if you have good content, services, and products for the customers, the traffic to your website and conversion rates will get reduced along with the website ranking on search engines if your website performance is not good.
SEO
An important factor that is affected by poor page performance is SEO. The ranking of your website gets reduced if your website is not performing well and has low page speed. Even though page speed is not the main factor that affects your website’s place on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs), if Google sees your website and the competitor’s website as equally relevant, then the one performing better and having more page speed will get the higher position.
User Experience
Users are usually very impatient. If the site takes a long time to load, they will leave immediately. This results in an increase in bounce rates. A website with higher performance and better page speed improves user satisfaction and this further leads to an increase in the time spent by users on the website.
Conversion and sales
Conversion rate and sales are the two most important factors affected by low website performance. Performance affects user satisfaction. They are more likely to download a content offer, sign up, or complete a purchase when they are satisfied and happy using your website.
Customer Trust
A website with good performance means the user will get a kind of good image of the brand and its reputation. A slow website may make it look unprofessional. Thus, customer loyalty can be built through a good-performance website as it helps in gaining the trust of the customers.
Web Page Performance Optimization Techniques
1. Minimize HTTP Requests
Each element on a webpage including images, scripts, stylesheets, etc requires an HTTP request which adds to the overall load time of your website. The more requests, the slower the site! Using a CDN, minifying CSS and JS files can help to limit the number of HTTP request your site makes. Also, remove the unnecessary plugins and widgets.
2. Optimize Images
Images are mostly the largest assets on a web page and if they are of high resolution, they can slow down the website. Use the right file format – JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics, and SVG for icons. Compress images and Serve images in next-gen formats like WebP. Also, implement lazy loading so that the images load only when the visitors scroll through them.
3. Leverage Browser Caching
Caching is necessary for improving the website performance. It allows a browser to store the files locally, that are accessed often. It allows browsers to pre-load some of the content of your website which further helps in faster webpage loading and delivery.
4. Enable Compression
Compressing files can reduce their size, which further increases their loading speed. One of the most reliable compression frameworks is Gzip without affecting the user experience. Other methods like Brotli compression can also be used to compress files.
5. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML
One of the best ways to optimize website performance is to reduce the size of Javascript, HTML, and CSS. This can be done by minifying them, which involves removing unnecessary code like unused functions and variables, white space characters, line breaks, comments, extra semicolons, etc. Minification can be done either manually or using a minification tool.
6. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Content Delivery Network helps to optimize content delivery. They use multiple servers to deliver content globally, delivering content from the server closest to the user. When the user visits your website, the Content Delivery Network (CDN) chooses the server that is closest to their location.
7. Reduce Server Response Time (TTFB)
Reducing the Server Response Time can increase the page loading speed. Use a faster hosting service, implement caching, and optimize your web server settings.
8. Reduce Total Redirects
More redirects on the server can increase the loading time. Redirects are used to send the users from the page they have clicked to another page. Minimize or eliminate unnecessary redirects and avoid redirect chains
9. Implement HTTP/2
Implementing HTTP/2 redirects helps in improving the website’s performance. Enable HTTP/2 on your server, which requires SSL/TLS (HTTPS).
10. Track 404 Errors
404 error pages occur when users try to access a page that no longer exists. It might have been deleted or moved. In this case, you will be losing a potential customer since they won’t be returning to your website due to this issue. Try to track down 404 errors and remove dead links.
11. Make Mobile a Priority
People these days use mobile phones to access various websites. It is their primary browsing medium. For this websites should load faster on mobile devices. Thus, focus on creating a mobile-friendly website with maximum loading speed on mobile devices.
12. Identify Poor-Performing Plugins
Identify add-ons or extensions. Keep only the necessary plugins. Always deploy the latest, fastest versions. This is important if you are running a WordPress website.
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