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Optimising a website for faster loading times will result in numerous benefits.
No one likes a slow website. Currently the stats show that 50% of people expect a website to load in two seconds. The statistics also demonstrate that for every second that passes for a website takes to load will impact on earning potential. There are multiple benefits to be realised from optimising a website for speed and performance. The benefits listed here include:
- Faster loading times means higher user engagement.
- Increased click through rate.
- Reduced bounce times.
- Better ranking in the mobile search engine algorithms.
- Perceived credibility of brand as a result of a fast loading site.
- Higher income.
- Faster websites on mobile get more results.
- Faster mobile websites are better for voice search.
- High performance websites do better in the search engines.
Steps To Take To Speed Up A WordPress Website
Make sure your WordPress website is running on at least PHP7. Once changed over to PHP7 you will see improvements straight away. However, make sure that your site is compatible with PHP7.
Another step towards getting high performance results and tested in GTMetrix is to use a good caching plugin.such as WPRocket.
Minimising the number of page requests needed by the server will improve the page score speed . By combining CSS files, Javascript files and Google fonts will speed up the page load times.
Aim for an A Grade page speed score in GTMetrix and you won’t have to worry about too many sites surpassing you.
Key areas that can be optimised for speed and performance:
- Reduce image file size.
- Add effective site caching.
- Set expiry dates on site content.
- Compress site files.
- Combine CSS and Javascript.
- Set up a CND network.
- Clearing the site database.
- Minify HTML.
- Combine Google Fonts.
- Load Javascript preferred.
- Covert to a super fast framework.
- Reduce the amount of requests per page to the server.
- Upgrade to PHP 7
How To Test For Website Speed & Performance.
Tests on site speed and performance can be done at the following resources.
Website Speed Is A Form Of Branding
Fast loading websites reflect well on your business brand. Users who get to the information on a site fast have a favourable perception of the brand as a result of a good user experience.
Do Better In The Search Engines
Improve website speed and you also benefit from outperforming your competitors in the search engines. Faster websites get returned higher over the other sites, both on mobile search and desktop. Google has publicly stated that a faster website is a ranking signal.
It’s not that Google promotes faster websites, its that the search engine penalises slower loading sites. To this extent you can outperform your competition and get ahead in the search results.