Why Your Website Page Speed Matters

Stephen McCance February 25, 2019

We’ve touched on website loading time on our last blog, but this week we’re delving more into what may be causing your slow page speed and more importantly – how to resolve it.

Page speed is a measurement of how fast your site content loads for the user. If your page speed loading time is too slow, you risk losing the interest of the visitor.

So, your page loading speed is more than just an inconvenience, it’s causing you to lose potential sales.

Website Performance Optimisation

It’s been suggested that on average the page loading time for e-commerce sites is 7 seconds. However, the ideal loading time should be around 3 seconds (or less!). Optimising your website is the best way to get your speed up.

What’s Causing The Snail Pace?

Some common culprits for slow website page speed are:

• Images that are too large
• Poor server response time
• Bad choice of host
• External embedded media
• Apps and plugins
• Your theme

Can It Impact Your SEO?

In 2010, Google announced that their algorithm would take page speed into consideration when determining rankings. When your pages take longer to load, it means that search engines crawl fewer pages within their crawl allowance. Therefore, this could negatively impact your indexation and consequently, SEO.

Tips To Speed Up Your Website

Compress Your Images

Users may find that your images are taking longer to load than the rest of your content. This is an indication that you need to compress your images before uploading them. If you’ve got WordPress, the WP Smush plugin is an excellent tool for this.

Optimise Your Code

Go through the website and optimise your code by removing any unnecessary elements such as spaces, commas and other characters. It’s also recommended to remove any unused code. You could use tools such as Uglify JS or CSSNano. This simple step may help to increase your page speed.

Use A Content Distribution Network

A CDN (also known as content delivery network) can help your website page speed because there’s less pressure than if it were on a single server. Copies of your site are stored across the globe at various data centres so that when users are accessing your site, they have a faster and more reliable experience.

Reduce Redirects

Sometimes you need to redirect the browser from one URL to another. Whether this is because you’re trying to track clicks, connect different part of the site together or indicate the location of a new URL, this could slow your page speed. Every time a user is redirected to another page, they face a longer waiting time for the HTTP request-response process to complete.

Choose A Better Host

It may go without saying but a host is the backbone of your site. When you’re at the stage of choosing a site host, try to look out for recommendations from other users before committing. There are plenty of online communities that provide ample reviews for different hosts. WebHostingTalk is a good place to start.

There are testing tools you can use you check your website page speed such as Page Speed Insight or Webpage Test. Both will give you an overview of your site, highlighting the areas that need addressing.

For further information on how we can help your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us.