Have you ever asked yourself: is my website fast enough? In today’s world, even if you build something that looks good and functions well, it’s still possible that you could be missing out on the little things that might make a big difference for you. We’re here to tell you that that one of these “little things” is site speed.
The speed of your site is very important for both SEO (search engine optimization) purposes and for consumer experience. If your site is slow, the bottom line is that you could be missing out on significant business revenue.
Google Weighs in on Website Speed
As far back as April 2010, Google announced to the world that website speed would affect your rankings in search results. As time went on and websites were viewed more and more on mobile devices, website speed stayed relatively the same. People were annoyed. Websites didn’t load as fast on their 2, 3, and 4G phones compared to high-speed DSL or cable connections. Unless you created a mobile-optimized site or enhanced your site to load quickly, people would leave your site and find another that would load faster. Consumers want instant gratification—they don’t want to wait for a slow website to load. An April 2015 consumer study by Radware (third-party tech company) states that visitors will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. So where do you start?
Optimize Images
This is an easy one that makes a significant difference. Make sure you compress your files into jpeg format and resize to fit your website so they are not larger than needed. Compressing to 80-90% image quality usually is not distinguishable by the human eye and can reduce file size significantly.
Remove Ads
Remove excessive advertising from your site. You want your website to focus on your company and what you offer. Sure, some extra revenue is nice, but don’t overdo it. Limit ads to 2-3 per page maximum. Also make sure you are not using full-page app interstitial formats. Google announced in September 2015 that sites that use these will not be considered mobile-friendly. They slow down your site and they create a poor user experience. The bottom line is: if Google doesn’t like something, neither should you.
Minify Your Code
Use a free service (we’ve included one in the links section below) to copy and paste in your code. Minifying your code will remove unnecessary and redundant data; cleaning up your code and offering speed benefits.
Limit Flash and Animated Content
While it may look cool, people are actually less likely to engage with this type of content vs. well-placed static content, not to mention that it’s clunky and slow. Try to minimize this as much as possible. Flash is also still not natively supported on Apple iOS devices – this means that your iPhone and iPad viewers will miss out on the message.
PageSpeed Insights
Google offers a free tool that scans your site and tells you exactly what improvements to make, so this is a no-brainer. Scan your site and make the necessary adjustments to improve your site’s speed.
Resources for Improving Website Speed
There you have it, a first look into improving your website speed. With the changes above, you should be well on your way to a better user experience and higher rankings in Google. Check out the links below and share this article with your tech-savvy friends!
Resources:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/02/finding-more-mobile-friendly-search.html
http://www.willpeavy.com/minifier/
http://www.epagecity.com/blog
