{"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

\"person-using-macbook-on-white-table\"Photo by<\/span> Myriam Jessier<\/a> on Unsplash<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Page Speed: What It Is and Why It Matters<\/strong><\/h4>\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>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

How Page Speed Affects Your SEO<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Now, back to page speed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\"person-using-macbook-with-coffee-on-table\"Photo by<\/span> Firmbee.com<\/a> on Unsplash<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

How To Check Your Website Loading Time and Performance<\/strong><\/h4>\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

\"cldy-website-speed\"<\/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

\"person-siting-on-chair-holding-tablet\"Photo by<\/span> Adeolu Eletu<\/a> on Unsplash<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

8 Reasons Your Website Is Slow (and How To Fix Them)<\/strong><\/h4>\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