Web Page Speed Optimization: Metrics, Tools & Tips To Improve

Page speed is how quickly a web page loads. It is one of the major concerns because it impacts your website conversion rate, visibility and usability. You will surprise to know that visitors want to access a site within less than 3 seconds, so which site takes more than a few seconds to open that can be abandoned by the visitors. As a result, no conversion, no sales, no revenue and zero ROI.

What Makes Your Website Load Slow?

• Large images
• Too many plugins widgets and third party script
• Your theme and large files
• JavaScript and hosting

How To Assess Website Speed

Before starting to assess your site speed optimization, first determine what is currently loading speed. Thus, you will be able to set your website performance goals. After this, you are ready to use the following tools.

• Google PageSpeed Insights
  It is the free tool offered by Google that you can use to run a performance test on your site. It also provides recommendations on improving the speed of your website. Use this for both mobile and desktop versions.
• Pingdom
  It is one of the great tools used for website speed testing. It has a number of useful features like track the performance history of your website speed, create data-driven recommendations on improving loading speed and make easy-to-understand reports. This tool also provides you with apps for Android or iOS for website speed testing.
• YSlow
  The tools provide you with the recommendations on best ways to improve the performance of your website, summarize all components and draw statistics.
• Performance Budget Calculator
  This is the free tool that enables you to figure out the type of content that you can use to make your site run optimally.

How To Improve Your Website Speed

• Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)
  With the help of CDN, user requests are redirected to several nearest servers. Thus, it helps to deliver the content quickly, which make your website load faster. This could be costly, but effective way to optimize your site load time.
• Optimize The Size Of Images
  Use the tools ImageOptim, Kraken or JPEGmini to reduce the size of images without compromising their quality. This procedure may take some time, but it will surely be beneficial.
• Reduce The Number Of Plugins
  Try to avoid the use of plugins which load a lot of scripts and styles or generate too many database queries. The best thing you can do add only necessary one and keep them up to date.
• Use Gzip Compression
  It helps to reduce the size of files by minimizing the HTTP requests and reducing the server response time. Gzip compresses the files before transmitting them to the browser.
• Minimize The Use Of Web Fonts
  • Utilize the modern formats WOFF2 for modern browsers
  • Include only character sets which are used on the site
  • Opt for only needed styles

Start improving your site speed today. If you need professionals to help you, then reach us at StrategyWeb. We are the leading web design and digital marketing company in Scarborough. From designing a website to improving its performance, we can do everything for you.