How to speed up website load time: Top 10 tips

What are Website Page and Load Times? 

Website page load time is when it takes for a web page to show fully in a user's browser. It includes the time required to load all elements, such as graphics, scripts, and stylesheets. Faster load speeds enhance the user experience and search engine rankings.

Why does site speed matter? 

Site speed is critical for user experience and search engine rankings. Faster load times lower bounce rates, increase user engagement and boost conversion rates. Google also uses page speed as a ranking factor, so a slow website may affect visibility in search results.

How to make a site mobile-friendly?

To make a website mobile-friendly, employ responsive design approaches that adapt the layout to multiple screen widths. Optimize pictures, reduce popups, and ensure buttons and links are easy to click on smaller displays. Test your website on various mobile devices to ensure a pleasant user experience.

Steps on how to speed up website load time

1. Optimize Images: Image optimization is one of the pivotal steps to improve website load performance. High-resolution pictures can slow down a website, so it is essential to compress or shrink the files to maintain the quality. 

Use applications like Photoshop, TinyPNG, or JPEGoptim to reduce file size. In addition, choose the appropriate file format. Responsive graphics can assist in improving load times by presenting images in the proper size for the user's device. Modern image formats, such as WebP, can help to improve efficiency even more. Optimizing photographs may drastically reduce load times and provide a more seamless user experience. 

2. Minimize HTTP Requests: Most webpages require browsers to perform repeated HTTP requests for the page's assets, such as images, scripts, and CSS files. Many websites require dozens of these requests. Each request generates a round trip to and from the server holding the resource, which can increase the overall load time of a webpage.

Because of these possible concerns, the number of assets required to load each page should be kept to a minimum. A speed test should help you determine which HTTP requests take the longest.

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DID YOU KNOW? 

Since 2020, Google's Core Web Vitals has added Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), a metric for perceived load speed. Achieving an LCP in under 2.5 seconds reassures users and signals useful material, improving the user experience. Optimizing for quick LCP increases load times while meeting Google's performance requirements.

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3. Enable Browser Caching: The browser cache is a temporary storage place where browsers save copies of static files to speed up loading recently viewed web pages. Developers can instruct browsers to cache elements of a webpage that do not change frequently. Instructions for browser caching are included in the HTTP response headers from the hosting server.

A website that loads in one second has a threefold higher conversion rate than one that takes five seconds. ( Source: Portent 2023) 

4. Reduce Server Response Time: Reducing server response time is critical for improving website load times. This includes improving server performance, quicker web hosting, and guaranteeing efficient database queries. Implementing caching technologies and leveraging a Content Delivery Network (CDN) can also minimize server response times by delivering content closer to users. Minimizing server response time improves overall site speed and client satisfaction.

5. Limit the Use of External Scripts: Any features on your website that come from outside sources, such as comment areas, call-to-action buttons, plugins, or popups, can slow down your site. Every time the website loads, these scripts must also load, causing latency and content to hop around. 

This is especially aggravating for smartphone users, who must scroll further to view everything. By simplifying and minimizing these external scripts, you can make your website speedier and give visitors a more enjoyable experience.

6. Minimise Redirects: A redirect occurs when users are directed from one webpage to another, which might slow down your site by adding extra load time. While redirects are occasionally required, they can become overused, particularly on large websites with many authors. 

Establish clear redirect policies and check for any that aren't required frequently.

For example, if "example.com/old-page" redirects to "example.com/new-page," ensure that it is a direct redirect without any additional steps in between to keep your site working correctly.

7. Optimize CSS Delivery: CSS delivery describes how your website's CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are loaded and applied to its pages. Optimization of this process can considerably enhance your website's load speed and overall performance.

• Inline Critical CSS: Include the CSS required for the above-the-fold content in the HTML. This reduces the time needed to retrieve external CSS files.
• Load CSS Asynchronously: Use media="print" and onload attributes to load non-critical CSS without disrupting the first render.
• Minify CSS: To reduce the size of your CSS files, eliminate any unnecessary spaces, comments, or characters.
• Combine CSS files: Reduce the number of HTTP requests by combining many CSS files into a single one.

8. Prioritise Above-the-Fold Content: Prioritizing above-the-fold content involves ensuring that the content that can be viewed without scrolling loads first. This enhances the user experience by making the page appear faster, even if it has yet to load fully. Here are some steps to accomplish this:

• Load vital resources first: Ensure that the CSS and JavaScript required for above-the-fold content are loaded first.
• Defer non-critical resources: Delay loading scripts and styles only immediately required once the main content is shown.
• Optimize images and media:  Use pictures and material that are correctly sized to speed up the initial view.
• Minimise Render-Blocking Resources: Reduce the quantity of render-blocking resources, such as scripts and stylesheets, that cause above-the-fold content to take longer to render.

9. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a distributed computer network that offers users web content based on their geographical location. Using a CDN can significantly improve your website's load speed and performance. Here's how you can perform: 

• Distribute content Globally: CDNs have servers worldwide. When visitors visit your website, the CDN sends the material from the nearest server, lowering latency.
• Cache Static Content: CDNs cache static content such as pictures, stylesheets, and scripts, lowering stress on your origin server and accelerating delivery.
• Improve Redundancy and Availability: CDNs make your website more resilient to traffic spikes and server failures by distributing content across different servers.

10. Optimize and minify Javascript: Minimise JavaScript files to minimize their size. Use defer and async to load JavaScript after the main content. Review and optimize your code to improve efficiency. This helps to speed up your website.

Wrapping Up 

Implementing these ten methods will drastically improve your website's load time, delivering a better user experience and potentially increasing your search engine results. To ensure optimal speed and efficiency, assess your site's performance regularly and make any necessary improvements.

FAQs

1. What is Google's recommended page load time?

Google advises that your site loads in less than three seconds, while their website loads in half that time.

2. Why isn't my website loading quickly?

Huge images can cause slow loading speeds, too many HTTP requests, unoptimized CSS and JavaScript, server difficulties, or heavy use of external scripts.

3. How frequently should I optimize my website?

Regularly, particularly after adding new content or features. Monthly performance checks can assist in identifying and resolving any concerns.

4. What tools can I use to measure the speed of my website?

Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and Pingdom are tools that can help you analyze and improve your website's load speed.