According to Forbes, about 40% of internet users have reported abandoning a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. This makes it very important to prioritize your website speed.
Before we dive into learning how to fix a web page, it is important to understand what makes a page slow.
There are a number of factors that can make a web page and a whole website slow. Some of these are simple things that can be fixed without any coding knowledge, while others are complex.
What makes a website slow?
- High-resolution images are good for your website, and everyone should have them. On the downside, these images happen to make the page heavy or increase page load times due to the file sizes.
- Too many plugins(apps on Shopify). Every plugin added increases the weight of the web page. If not properly optimized, the plugins can make your page slow
- JavaScript files that load before the main content(render-blocking JavaScript) can delay rendering. Deferring or asynchronously loading JavaScript can help the main content load faster.
- Lack of caching – caching can be defined as taking a snapshot of a webpage and storing it temporarily for easy access later. Without caching, browsers have to reload pages every time a user visits a page. Implementing browser caching allows frequently accessed pages to be stored locally and reduces load time.
- HTTP Requests – A page with many HTTP requests will be slower to load. Each element (images, videos, scripts) requires a separate HTTP request. Too many of these elements increase the load time of a webpage.
- Too many redirects – The URL structure and the number of redirects in your website play an important role in your web speed. Accessing a page with multiple redirects will slow down the page due to increased load times.
- Slow servers are likely to increase page load times. This can happen due to normal downtimes or when you use shared hosting, which means shared resources.
- Use of external scripts – When linking services like Google Ads for instance, you are likely to add an external script in your website’s theme file, which can affect load times.
- Slow network – This mostly affects the client side, and the website owner has little to NO control over the same.
How do you identify a slow web page on your website?
Here are a few things you can do to identify slow pages:
- Connect your website to Ahrefs, and you will get frequent updates on slow pages, broken links, and a few other SEO improvement suggestions
- Try accessing your website or a website with a slightly poor network and record the load times.
- Use website speed test tools like Google Page Insights. It gives a detailed report on the speeds of your web page in addition to other reports.
How do you fix slow web pages?
The easiest way to improve your website speed is by starting with the basics.
First, look at the images on your website; are the file sizes too large, do they have the right dimensions, reasonable at least?.
If not, think about compressing the images. There are free tools like TinyPNG, which can help you reduce the size of an image by up to 70% in most cases. For videos, you can use tools like VEED.IO for compression.
Second, reduce the number of elements on a page. This will help reduce the HTTP requests made, thus improving the load speed.
Third, scan for redirects on your website and try reducing the number of pages with more than 3 redirects.
Next, if you are comfortable editing the website’s theme file, try cleaning out the code for efficiency. If not, hire a developer to do the work for you.
Additionally, ensure a proper and effective caching system is implemented. Try out WP Rocket for WordPress websites.
Finally, reduce the number of plugins on your website. Only leave what you need. Some plugins can make your website presentable but slow. Choose what gives the best experience to the visitors on your website. You also want to ensure you have a reliable hosting service
This is a simple overview of web page speed. If you find it helpful, share it with friends.