{"id":14551,"date":"2022-07-08T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/?p=14551"},"modified":"2023-02-28T20:46:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T12:46:42","slug":"reducing-website-loading-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/blog\/security\/reducing-website-loading-time\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Proven Ways of Reducing Your Website Loading Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ever visited a website that took too long to load? Chances are, you decided to leave and look elsewhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The internet is a place for instant gratification, so it\u2019s hard to fault users for abandoning a slow-loading website. With your website\u2019s ROI (\u200b\u200bReturn on investment) on the line, you have to look at page speed. Websites that take longer than expected to load tend to see an immediate drop in engagement and conversions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So if you suspect that your pages have started to lag, it\u2019s high time you started reducing website loading time.<\/span><\/p>\n Page speed covers two factors: \u201cTime to first byte\u201d and \u201cpage load time\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Time to first byte (TTFB) is the time it takes for a browser to receive the first byte of information from a web server. Page load time, on the other hand, indicates the time needed to view the content on a browser window.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You will need to optimise both factors to improve user experience and search rankings.<\/span><\/p>\n Picture this scenario: You invested a lot to publish a professional website and added great content to match\u2014 \u2014 <\/span>only <\/span><\/i>for it to fail in generating leads. You then pin the cause for the lack of traffic and engagement to poor load times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Google notes that <\/span>bounce rates increase by 90%<\/a> when your website loading time takes up to five seconds to load. If you\u2019re running an e-commerce site, that\u2019s a huge loss to potential online sales!<\/span> So we established that website loading time speed determines whether a user wants to engage with your website or not. But did you know that page speed is a major ranking factor, too?<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re unfamiliar with search engine optimization (SEO), it is the practice of improving your website’s loading time to increase its visibility, or <\/span>ranking, <\/span><\/i>in search results. The higher you rank on search engines, the more quality traffic you drive to your page. The more leads you drive to your website, the higher your conversions.<\/span> Google, the world\u2019s largest search engine, has emphasised the importance of page speed. So much so that they named it a <\/span>ranking signal for desktop and mobile searches<\/a>. Google’s Page Experience update highlights the importance of speed as well.<\/span><\/p>\n To simply put<\/span>, you can\u2019t expect your website to be on the first page of Google if it\u2019s slow. Page speed should be given the same importance as your website\u2019s loading time, design and responsiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n Before you start optimising page speed, you\u2019ll need to identify your bottlenecks. You will find a number of premium and free tools to measure your website loading time on both desktop and mobile.<\/span><\/p>\n Here are the top four free tools:<\/span><\/p>\n 1. Google PageSpeed Insights (PSI)<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps the best-known tool on this list, <\/span>Google PageSpeed Insights<\/a> determines the factors slowing down your website. It employs the help of an open-source tool called Lighthouse to collect and analyse data.<\/span><\/p>\n After a few seconds of assessing your website, you will see a report that displays your web page\u2019s overall performance score and a breakdown of different metrics.<\/span><\/p>\n This screenshot is made by CLDY<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Each metric zooms in on specific elements that impact page experience.<\/span><\/p>\n Your goal is to hit a score of 85 and above. Of course, the higher your score, the better. We\u2019ll get into detail on how you can achieve this in a bit. But first, let\u2019s explore the next tool: GTMetrix<\/span><\/p>\n 2. GTmetrix<\/b><\/p>\n GTmetrix<\/a> is another popular tool for assessing page speed. You can customise your test by deciding on a device and browser combination. You can also test your web page against 30 test servers and networks, ranging from 56k Dial-Up to Unthrottled connection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Signing up is free. However, if you want to access unlimited filters and download reports, you\u2019ll need to sign up for GTmetrix Pro.<\/span><\/p>\n 3. Pingdom<\/b><\/p>\n Pingdom and Google PageSpeed Insights are similar in many ways.<\/span><\/p>\n Pingdom<\/a> ranks your website loading time performance from 0 to 10. It also breaks down your site performance by metrics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, Pingdom does give you insights into metrics otherwise missing on PageSpeed Insights. It also offers a website monitoring suite that provides real-time access to your site performance.<\/span><\/p>\n 4. WebPageTest<\/strong><\/p>\n While it does provide similar features to other tools on this list, <\/span>WebPageTest<\/a> does have an invaluable metric called SpeedIndex.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Speed Index measures how quickly visual content appears as a website page loads. The lower the number, the better. You can test your website’s loading time speed across different browsers, devices, and locations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another important feature WebPageTest provides is a waterfall analysis. A waterfall chart helps you visualise the time each website resource (stylesheets, images, and scripts) loads.<\/span><\/p>\n Manually analysing your website’s loading time speed will not yield accurate results. Fortunately, you have free website speed test tools to help you point out cracks in your website\u2019s loading time performance. We recommend you mix and match each tool until you and your team develop a preference for particular features or reports.<\/span><\/p>\n After getting an overview of your page speed, start optimising the different factors that influence them. <\/span><\/p>\n 1. Javascript is delaying page loads<\/strong><\/p>\n Javascript is a scripting language used on web pages to create interactive effects. A few examples of website features using Javascript include user-centred navigation, videos, and animation. It works alongside website technologies, HTML and CSS, to turn a website from static to engaging.<\/span><\/p>\n Poorly-written Javascript code only delays your website loading time. In fact, it\u2019s one of the main culprits for slow websites.<\/span><\/p>\n To optimise your Javascript code, try any of the following solutions:<\/span><\/p>\n 2. Excessive HTTP Requests<\/strong><\/p>\n An HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) request happens when a browser submits a \u201crequest\u201d to your web server. For example, a user clicks on a page from your menu. As the page loads, your server notes this request and submits the files on that page to the user\u2019s browser.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, your goal is to lessen the number of HTTPS requests on your website. Excessive Javascript, CSS, and media files lead to several HTTP requests \u2014 therefore reducing your page load speed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To reduce the number of HTTP requests, try the following techniques:<\/span><\/p>\n 3. Not using caching techniques<\/strong><\/p>\n Caching helps you speed up website loading time performance and efficiency by storing frequently used data locally (referred to as \u201ccached memory\u201d). For example, when a user visits a web page, browsers cache the content that appears on the page and saves a copy of it on the device\u2019s hard drive.<\/span> 4. You\u2019re not <\/i>using a Content Delivery Network (CDN)<\/strong><\/p>\n A Content Delivery Network, or CDN, is a group of servers positioned in key locations around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n The purpose of the CDN is to accelerate the delivery of web content. A common use case is websites that have visitors from different geographical locations.\u00a0 Because there is less distance for the data to travel, users can enjoy a faster load time.<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re running a WordPress site, you\u2019ll find several CDN solutions to choose from. Some of the most popular brands in the market are Cloudflare, Sucuri, and CloudFront.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 5. Plugins are overloading your website<\/strong><\/p>\n Plugins enhance your website\u2019s features and functions. For example, you\u2019ll need a plugin to add opt-in forms, set up an online store, and even run automatic backups.<\/span><\/p>\n Installing too many plugins weigh your website loading time down as it pushes your system to make additional HTTP requests. It also requires additional server resources, especially when you have an analytics plugin installed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, how much is <\/span>too many <\/span><\/i>plugins,<\/span> exactly? The average business website will have somewhere between 20 to 30 plugins installed. It\u2019s common for larger websites to have 50+ plugins too.<\/span><\/p>\n That said, consider these tips to properly manage your plugins:<\/span><\/p>\n
Photo by<\/span> Myriam Jessier<\/a> on Unsplash<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nPage Speed: What It Is and Why It Matters<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\nHow Page Speed Affects Your SEO<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\n<\/span>Now, back to page speed.<\/span><\/p>\n
Photo by<\/span> Firmbee.com<\/a> on Unsplash<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nHow To Check Your Website Loading Time and Performance<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Photo by<\/span> Adeolu Eletu<\/a> on Unsplash<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n8 Reasons Your Website Is Slow (and How To Fix Them)<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\n<\/span>You can cache a number of things, including images, database queries, and HTTP requests. <\/span><\/p>\n\n
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