It is well known that site speed plays a crucial role in the success of your website. How quickly your site loads can affect not only your google ranking but also your visibility and conversion rate. Your overall SEO ranking will decrease as Google won’t rank you as high in its search results. Furthermore, anyone that actually does find your site won’t fancy waiting around forever for the website to load properly either.
So why is this happening and what can we do about it?
1. Media files are too large
Sometimes images and video are added to a website without ever being optimised or compressed. This can place a huge burden on the website performance, and the speed will ultimately suffer. If you are using WordPress, there are numerous plugins that can help with this issue. If you are doing it manually, we would recommend using a website called TingPng to compress your images before uploading to your website.
2. Javascript code is delaying page loads
JavaScript is the code that makes your website functional and interactive for users. It is often quite bulky and if it is left unoptimised, it can delay your pages when they try to load in users’ browsers. You can try removing the javascript and using it only inline when needed, asynchronously meaning it is loaded separately from the rest of the page or deferred meaning it is loaded only when the rest of the page is fully visible.
3. Your site is showing an older cached version
Caching is when browsers store static copies of your website’s files. Then when users access your site, their browsers can display the cached data instead of having to reload it. On WordPress sites, there are lots of caching plugins that will help improve your website load time. The one we use most is WP Super Cache, mainly because it is simple to set up and very flexible. We always advise users to backup their website before clearing the cache, as sometimes complications can occur.
4. Too many plugins
Having a lot of plugins can weigh your website down and ultimately cause poor performance. It is advised to regularly check your plugins and delete ones you no longer use or need.
5. Slow server response time
Your hosting company or package can often play the biggest role in your websites performance. It can be tempting to go for the cheaper package offering the moon and the stars but when it comes down to it, you get what you pay for. It is worth researching a little into the reputation of the hosting company and seeing if it is the right fit for you.
In conclusion, you could have the most visually appealing website in the world but if it doesn’t load fast then it is pointless really. At Studio26, we perform regular checks on all our websites to make sure they are secure and loading as expected.