Why optimise your website's loading speed?

The loading speed of a page on your website is one of the most important factors Google considers when ranking websites. Although this was not the case a few years ago, the importance of page load time (the speed at which your website loads in your browser or mobile device) has snowballed over time.

What is the impact on my website?

Surveys have shown that over 50% of users expect your page to load in 2 or 3 seconds. Most will leave if you make them wait much longer. In addition, a slow-loading website also means a slower crawl rate, which means that Google will also be slower to index your site's pages. Research shows that people do not like visiting slow websites, or even buying from them. The user experience (UX) is improved through optimal navigation, and slow loading times negatively impact the UX. Therefore, if you want to increase traffic to your website organically and achieve a better ranking, you will need to improve the loading speed of your website's pages. A fast site is a user-friendly site.

How can I optimise the loading speed of my website?

The elements that have the greatest impact on a website are images, videos, YouTube iframes, etc., followed by code files. Indeed, some files can be resource-intensive, for example: JS files, your website's CSS, etc.

Thirdly, plugins can slow down a website. Obviously, if you use 40 plugins for a small website, this may slow down the loading of your site. Consider cleaning up your site and removing unused modules. Keep the number of plugins to less than 10-15 in total. It is sometimes better to code a custom function rather than install a plugin.
Although you can see that this page loads in 5.30 seconds, the essential part of the page is above the fold, which is why the score is so good. The above-the-fold portion loads quickly, while the below-the-fold portion loads unnoticed. If you could see the below-the-fold portion of your site at the same time, you would not see much more than plain text and no images. We add code to the location that only triggers the loading of content if it is within the browser window. This allows a page with large amounts of material or photos to not load everything on the page, just what you see. This code alone will increase your score by 10 to 15 points.

How to measure the loading speed of my website.

The first thing you need to do before increasing your website's speed is to check its loading time using one of the website speed tools below. Checking from different locations may give you different results, which is why not all speed tools may give you identical results. That's why it's best to try a few tools to get an average time, rather than relying on just one.

Google PageSpeed Insights

This tool helps you measure your website's performance on both desktop and mobile devices. A PageSpeed score of 85 or above should indicate that your page has performed exceptionally well. Since network connectivity affects site speed, this tool only tests aspects of your page that are independent of the network, namely server configuration, JavaScript, CSS, and the HTML structure of your page. If your site has a low score, it will appear in red. To achieve an orange colour, you must have a score of 65 or higher.

Pingdom

In addition to providing you with your website's loading time, Pingdom also gives you a performance score that it calculates based on various factors. It continuously monitors your website, checking its speed, uptime, and performance for a minimal monthly cost.

GT Metrix

This free tool analyses your page's speed performance. Using PageSpeed and YSlow, GTmetrix generates scores for your pages. You can even get free recommendations on how to improve your website's performance and speed. You'll love how this tool breaks down the details.

WebPageTest

WebPageTest provides you with your website's loading time and also rates it based on its performance. There are approximately six different performance ratings that it provides based on various factors. It also gives you some suggestions for changes you can implement to improve your website's speed. The ability to select the country from which you want to run your test makes it easier to see how your site performs in different parts of the world. Once you have tested your websites on all of these tools, you will be able to get a comprehensive overview of your site's performance.

Are there any WordPress plugins that can help me optimise my website's loading speed?

Absolutely, certain WordPress plugins can HELP you optimise your website's speed. However, for optimal results, you must first clean up your website, update your plugins and CMS, and remove any unused extensions. You should also optimise the size of your files by compressing your images and/or changing their file extension (see how to optimise images on my website).

You can then download one of these extensions:

WP Super Cache

Excellent plugin that does exactly what it's supposed to do: cache your site. WP Rocket offers a solution to increase your site's speed without risk or hassle. Although it's a better plugin, you have to pay for it compared to WP Super Cache, which is completely free.

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is also an excellent plugin for caching your website and increasing its speed. However, it may not work for everyone. It is a high-end tool that offers many options. Too many for the less experienced, but once properly configured, your website will load very quickly. It is capable of improving a score from 50 to 80 or more.

LS Cache

LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress (LSCWP) is an all-in-one plugin that allows you to optimise your website's loading speed, including caching features and a range of optimisation functions.

This application is recommended for websites hosted on a server with technology. LiteSpeed, but it is also compatible with other types of hosting servers (Apache, NGINX, etc.).

Suggestions for improving site speed

In addition to using modules to optimise website loading speeds and installing a caching plugin, there are other solutions you can use to improve your website's speed. For example:

Would you like to audit your website?

Good initiative. At WS Digital Consulting, we analyse your website, your server and the modules used to show you what needs to be corrected and how to optimise your site's loading speed so that it meets search engine requirements. Contact us Register now to receive a complimentary website audit.