People (and search engines) predict your website to be fully loaded in the time it takes to read the first sentence. If your page takes more than 3 seconds to load, half of your prospect’s visitors will abandon it. That is why Google and other search engines are obsessed with website speed. Not only is it a ranking factor for SEO, but it also impacts user experience (UX). When you think about it logically, this also makes sense. What good is a beautiful website if no one ever visits it? While there are numerous factors to consider when optimizing your website for SEO, one is page speed.
What precisely is Page Speed?
The time it takes to load a specific web page is called page speed. When we say “load,” we mean a few things.
First, contentful painting is one measurement. That is the time when the first text or image appears. Consider this the very first thing you see when a website loads. The second metric is “first meaningful paint.” While similar to the First Contentful Paint, this indicates when your content is visible above the fold or what you can see on your device without scrolling. Finally, time to interact will be considered in speed tests. The entire page takes some time to load. And hopefully, visitors won’t have to wait long! But how do you know what your page speed is in the first place?
What causes a website to be slow?
The most common culprit is usually a large number of unoptimized images. In addition, image optimization is critical to maintaining a consistent SEO strategy, as optimized images will also rank in Google image searches. When this happens, your site’s overall search optimization will improve. Remember that the sole purpose of image optimization is to make your pages lighter by reducing load times and network resources. It also means that data usage is reduced for mobile visitors with limited data plans. The internet is rife with useful tools for compressing image sizes.
How to Reduce Page Load Time
One of the advantages of Google’s Page Speed tool is that it provides specific recommendations to help your page load faster. Some of the enhancements you can make are listed below:
1. Postpone off-screen images
From a coding standpoint, loading images that are either off-screen or hidden initially after all critical resources have been completed can reduce the interaction time. As a result, your page will load more quickly.
2. Provide images in Next-Generation Formats
There are now better options than just a PNG or JPEG, which can result in faster downloads and lower overall data consumption. The issue is that support for these newer formats is limited, so compressing images as much as possible is your best bet.
3. Remove all Render-Blocking Resources
If resources obstruct your page’s First Contentful Paint, make critical JavaScript (JS) and CSS inline and defer all non-critical JS/styles.
4. Discard Unused CSS
When developing a larger website, it is common to have redundant or unused lines of code in your style sheet. Removing unnecessary code will also help your page load faster.
How Do You Measure Page Speed?
It is easy to test page speed. As previously stated, page speed is defined by the moment it takes for a webpage to load. MySEOTools is the best tool for measuring and evaluating page speed.
Analyze your website’s performance to identify bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement. Check to see if your page is loading slowly. Each audit in MySEOTools is explained in detail and includes actionable recommendations. The order of the audits in the reports reflects which has the most influence on your website.