Are you concerned about the load speeds of your website? I bet you are and indeed you should be. If you aren’t then you might just be giving it the wrong approach. Let me explain.
It has been sufficiently proven that web visitors will decide whether to stay on a site and even how long to stay around within the first four to five seconds after landing on it.
Imagine then how many potential clients you would be losing if your website takes 6 to 10 seconds to load a single page. But it is not all gloom and hopeless, there are several ways you can improve your website speeds and make your SEO journey rather easy and smooth.
Harness the Power of your Database by Indexing.
Whatever the purpose of your website, whether an e-commerce market place, blog, or a news site your database needs to be optimized for efficient functionality.
Indexing is one way of doing it. In simple terms, adding an index refers to a system that distinguishes information so that searches can yield into the most relevant results. This ensures your searches do not scan through a load of hefty files but rather narrows down to specific items. This reduces the time taken to send back results.
Minimize The Number of HTTP Requests
This is somewhat a technical aspect of your web design and one in which you might need the l help of an expert such as a web designer.
Webpages are made up elements such as images, scripts, flash components among others. Each of these components is assigned a specific HTTP addresses. Subsequently, the more the HTTP addresses the slower the load speeds.
Make use of Content Delivery Networks(CDN)
In one way or the other data is transported from one source to the destination as cargo would be on road. If the carrier meets several obstacles on the way, chances are that there will be delays in delivery. Again, the shorter the distance to be covered, the faster the load will be transported.
If for instance, the server of your website has physically in Hong Kong, China, it will take longer to have data transferred to a website in New York, USA. This can, however, be corrected if the same data is stored in CDNs in closer range. CDN servers are located all over the world and it is easy to store a copy of your data on them, effectively reducing the distance of travel regardless of where a visitor is.
Minimize Add-on Plugins
Did you know plugins can cause delays on your pages?
Plugins are a good way of tracking the different things that take place in the background of your website. They are also a good way of optimizing your website for performance, albeit in a silent working mode. However, you don’t need to overwork your website with plugins. Too many of them may be duplicating roles and simply delaying delivery time.
Carefully select what you need the most and keep track of how useful they are over time. Plugins undergo routine updates all the time and changes on them may have an effect on the performance of your website. Simply keep an eye on them.
Running or thinking about running WordPress? Learn more here: How to Speed Up WordPress: Blueprint to Success
Pop-ups and Ad Scripts Maybe Spoiling the Party.
There is a high possibility that your website has some pop-ups designed for one thing or the other and most likely for conversion. However, they may be the reason why your website loads at a snail speed.
It is a rather easy balancing act. Where are your pop-ups coming from? If they are from third parties, what is their effect on the performance of your site? How heavy are the files?
Endeavor as much as possible to keep your website free of clutter and enhance the power of simplicity to harness efficiency.
Is your Web Host the Trouble within?
Well, you might be struggling to find the problem yet its right within!
Of course, you must have done due diligence before settling on the web host option you know use, but have you consistently followed up on the promises they made before doing business with you?
Quite often, starters will choose a web host based on the cost of the package on offer. Whereas this is a good business move at first, you need to keep an eye on their services especially as their business grows.
As your website grows and more content is loaded, you might consider going for higher bandwidth.
Page Speed Vs. Page Rankings.
In the course of ensuring that your website performs optimally, you will need to work in an all-round manner. Among installations, you might add on to help you increase traffic is share buttons. It is, however, advisable that you keep them at the minimum to reduce the risk of slowing down your website. Be very selective in the way you place and use multiple videos, tracking codes as well as embed videos.
Minimize Redirects
It is common for websites to redirect visitors to sites where better indexing of data has been done. This is reflected when websites respond with 301 redirects. Although they can serve a positive purpose in SEO, too many of them can be harmful to your site and lead to slow speeds.
Redirect chains precisely cause a series of change in directions from one URL to another. In the process, engine bots and general users wait longer for responses to be generated.
From time to time, crawl your website to see the number of redirects generate and use available tools to reduce them.
Website Speed for SEO: Conclusion
In the competitiveness of the modern world, you cannot afford to have a website that is slacking. Quite frankly, it is a daunting task to keep up with all the demands of optimized websites but it pays in the long run. Importantly, keep up with the changing times and track emerging technologies to align yourself for best performance on your website.
