WHY WEBSITE DOWNLOAD SPEEDS ARE IMPORTANT
SEO REASONS
Website Download Speeds play an essential role in Search Engine Optimization. Google has stated that websites with slow loading times will not rank on highly on their search engine. In many cases, Google will not index your website to save on crawling resources. You may have the perfect website and SEO score, but if you fail to produce a fast-loading website, it will not shine on Google.
PAID ADS REASONS
Websites with slow loading times that use paid advertising are wasting their budget. Slow-loading websites frustrate users as they grow impatient. This frustration negatively impacts your conversion rate. Conversions are valuable actions on your website, such as sales, leads, and calls. Slow-loading websites will result in fewer conversions and missed opportunities.
HOW TO CHECK YOUR DOWNLOAD SPEEDS
Many people are unaware that their website is not meeting the speed criteria. There are two vital tools you can use to check your download speeds and identify where the delays are taking place.
GOOGLE PAGESPEED INSIGHTS
Google Pagespeed Insights estimates the loading times of your website on both mobile and desktop. It analyses your websites and provides vital recommendations on how to fix performance issues.
GTM METRIX
GTM Metrix checks your website loading speeds from multiple locations and devices worldwide. It dissects and lists heavy scripts, server delays, and large image sizes that slow down your website.
7 ESSENTIAL WAYS TO SPEED UP YOUR SITE
NUMBER 1
USE FAST HOSTING
Hosting companies offer many types of hosting services.
These include:
1. Shared hosting
2. Virtual private hosting
3. Cloud hosting
4. Dedicated hosting
Shared hosting is not ideal if you want to reach maximum speed performance. Shared hosting places multiple websites on a single shared server, which reduces download speeds. Most businesses use shared hosting as it’s the most affordable option. Use virtual, cloud, or dedicated hosting.
RECOMMENDED HOSTING
SITEGROUND
SiteGround is designed for WordPress websites. They provide high-quality servers with consistent uptime, making your website available 24 hours a day.
CLOUDWAYS
Cloudways provides cloud hosting for all types of websites with a simple Dashboard. They have high-performance servers, so your website loads quickly.
NUMBER 2
OPTIMIZE YOUR IMAGES
Large, uncompressed images can be the primary reason for slow-loading websites. Most images should be under 100 KB, and icons should be under 50 KB. Images or icons exceeding these sizes will impact your loading times.
RECOMMENDED TOOLS TO COMPRESS IMAGES
EWWW IMAGE OPTIMIZER PLUGIN
EWWW image optimizer is a WordPress plugin that automatically reduces the size of images without having to reduce the size of each image yourself. The paid version can compress pictures by 90%.
CASIUM IMAGE COMPRESSOR
Casium image compressor is a free software tool that reduces the size of images by 90%. Visit their website and download their software program to your computer to optimize each image or icon.
NUMBER 3
CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK
A content delivery network loads your website on multiple servers around the world. The server closest to the physical location of your user will load, which will improve the speed and performance of your website.
RECOMMENDED CDN TO USE
CLOUDFARE
Cloud Fare offers a Free CDN for websites. Sign up for their website and follow the instructions.
BUNNY CDN
Bunny CDN offers fast hosting speeds and affordable pricing to match these incredible services.
NUMBER 4
ENABLE BROWSE CACHING
When a user visits your website, the browser must download files such as images and JavaScript. Browser caching stores these files in the user’s browser, so the next time the user visits a website, they won’t wait long for the webpage to download, as the files are stored locally. Browser caching reduces the server load, improves your SEO score, and provides for a better user experience.
RECOMMENDED WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR BROWSER CACHING
W3 TOTAL CACHE
W3 Total Cache is a free browser caching plugin. The main features include browser caching, page caching, object caching, CDN integration, and lazy loading times. They offer both free and paid options.
WP-ROCKET
This is a paid service, but it provides the most user-friendly interface on the market. WP Rocket works immediately after you activate the plugin. It has positive reviews from over 3 million websites.
NUMBER 5
MINIMIZE THE USE OF JAVASCRIPT, CSS, AND HTML
JavaScript, CSS, and HTML are code that build and power websites. These same elements can slow down your website; it’s crucial to limit the number of elements running in the background of your site.
HTML
HTML, known as Hyper-Text Markup Language, consists of website elements such as your headings, images, links, buttons, and text.
CSS
CSS, known as Cascading Style Sheets, consists of website elements such as animations, colors, fonts, layout, and spacing.
JAVASCRIPT
JavaScript is an interactive element that respond to a user’s engagement, such as popups, chatbots, drop-down menus, sliders, and forms.
RECOMMENDED PLUGINS
WP- ROCKET
This is one of the leading market tools; it automatically reduces HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files on your website. There is a free version, but for maximum efficiency, it’s recommended that you use the paid option.
NUMBER 6
REDUCE HTTP REQUESTS
HTTP requests load the different elements on your website. The more elements presented on your website(Images, fonts, CSS), the more HTTP requests, the more resources required to download. There are available plugins that combine HTTP requests to speed up the process.
RECOMMENDED PLUGIN TO REDUCE HTTP REQUESTS
WP-ROCKET
WP Rocket reduces the number of HTTP requests without coding knowledge. The process is automated and effective as it combines HTTP requests into a single request for better performance.
NUMBER 7
REMOVE UNNECESSARY PLUGINS
Plugins are add-ons that improve the functionality of your WordPress website without having to know code. For instance, the Contact Form 7 plugin installs a contact form on your website within minutes.
PROBLEM WITH TOO MANY PLUGINS
The main issue with Plugins is that they contain code that your website has to load. The more plugins a website has, the more code that needs to be loaded, and the slower the download speeds.
PLUGIN SOLUTIONS
CHECK PLUGIN COMPATIBILITY
Before installing a plugin on your website, check the star rating and the reviews of the plugin. Many plugins are not compatible with each other, and adding a plugin to your website can slow it down and even break its functionality.
CHECK THE SIZE OF THE PLUGIN
Plugins come in different sizes. The bigger the plugin, the more likely it is to slow down your website. However, in many cases, even small-sized plugins with badly written code can negatively reduce download times.
There are 3 types of plugin sizes:
1. Lightweight – Under 1 MB Zipped
2. Moderate – Around 1.5 MB Zipped
3. Heavy – Around 5 MB Zipped
CHOOSE YOUR PLUGINS WISELY
Instead of using five different plugins for five functions, use 1 Plugin that performs the same five functions. For instance, some plugins automatically install an XML sitemap on your website, and plugins that help you update your metadata. Instead of installing 2 plugins, use the Yoast plugin to perform the same actions plus several others.
UPDATE YOUR PLUGINS REGULARLY
You must update your plugins regularly, as they can slow down your website and open up access points for hackers to penetrate your site. Most plugins have an automatic update feature. This feature automatically updates your plugins. You don’t need to do it yourself.
REMOVE UNNECESSARY PLUGINS
Limit the number of WordPress plugins to improve your speed performance. Your website should have fewer than 20 plugins installed. Remove dormant and unnecessary plugins for best practices.
