How to boost your website speed
Website speed is a critical concern for all companies who want a better SERP and more conversions. If Google & Bing are how businesses get discovered, then making sure you show up in those searches is key. And, once users do visit your website, you want that experience to be seamless. So, today, we’ll reinforce why website speed is so important and how to boost it quickly and easily.
Why website speed matters_
Website speed matters for two main reasons.
- Websites with a better load time are shown higher in search results (because Google and other search engines assume they’re going to offer a better user experience).
- Faster websites DO offer a better user experience and as a result, generate more sales. This is because there are no performance barriers to frustrate your customers.
So, for just those two core reasons, increasing website speed is a major concern for all modern businesses. You can use a tool like Pingdom to check your website to see if there’s cause to worry about speed.
How to increase your website speed_
If you’re getting concerning speed reports or decreased conversions due to performance, here are some things you can do right now to increase your website speed:
Compress images
Big images take a long time to load. And that time drags down your website speed score. There are loads of free plugins you can add to your website which will automatically compress large images for you or you can use a free online tool like Image Compressor to do it in batches for uploading.
Limit animations
Animations hog system resources and slow down the page. And while they definitely look cool – you’ll need to weigh if their cost is a benefit overall. Most people visit via mobile and fancy scrolling or loading animations can quickly drain the battery; leading to a shortened browsing experience too.
Update all plugins
Old outdated plugins could be dragging down your score. Not only could they be full of bloated old code, but if you have two plugins that do roughly the same thing, you’re sacrificing speed for no reason. Time to take stock, update and uninstall.
Clean up code
Just like with plugins, code that isn’t useful, isn’t needed. Have your development team go through the website’s base code every once in a while to check for orphaned snippets or redundant pieces. Anything you can clean makes your website more lean!
Remove autoplay from media
Lastly, don’t ever enable autoplay on videos or sounds. A lot of people will be visiting your website in environments where they don’t want sudden media to play. On top of that, you’ll be slowing down your website with no clear interest shown by the user. It’s okay to let them decide to click ‘play’.
(We have even more tips here.)
In short, you could make all of these changes in a matter of days and have a much faster website speed as a result. If you’re nervous you might break something or really don’t know where to start; why not reach out? Our expert team has been advising companies on tech for nearly 20 years and we’d love to help you too.
