Page speed is very important for visitor experience and search engine rankings. Using online page speed testers is helpful as they provide very specific suggestions, although it can be difficult to address everything listed. If you’re looking for a simple approach, here are 3 easy ways to improve website page speed.
1 – Select Good Hosting
It all starts with hosting. When you select among website hosting options, you are choosing the amount of resources available for your website. Think back to when you were shopping for a computer/laptop. You probably viewed options with different storage capacity, processor speeds, etc., and each had a different price point. The same goes for servers and hosting. Cheaper packages are often shared hosting with limited resources while more expensive packages have more storage and performance. If you have a slow server/hosting package, then our website will naturally load more slowly as well,…especially as your website traffic increases. It’s like trying to run 10 different programs at the same time on a slow/old computer. Sometimes to improve website page speed, you need to upgrade your hosting.
2 – Reduce Image File Sizes
Large files are one of the most common culprits of slow page speed, so reducing those sizes are one of the easiest ways to improve website page speed. Most WordPress websites limit uploads to 1MB for this very reason. There are a few different ways to reduce image file sizes:
- Change File Formats
PNG files are generally larger in size than JPG files. Sometimes simply converting a PNG to JPG saves significant storage space and improves page speeds. - Reduce Image Quality
All images have a resolution setting. By reducing the resolution, you are lowering the image quality AND the file size. Some adjustments can normally be made without noticeably changing image quality and are therefore worthwhile. - Reduce Image Size
Photos on most websites are larger than they need to be. For instance, if the width of your website maxes out at 1200 pixels, there’s no need to use images that are 3,000 pixels wide. By adjusting dimensions, you can reduce image file sizes. - Image Compression
There are many plugins available that will compress your images and thereby reduce image file sizes. Most of these work without compromising image quality.
3 – Limit Third Party Content
Third party content is information loaded from other sources. For example, if you embed a video from another website, your website must first communicate with that other site to grab the information needed to display on your website. If their server is slow to respond, your page will be slow to load. Many different types of plugins rely on connecting to third-party servers. Additionally, framed or embedded content functions the same way. If your site is slow to load, it may be a result of waiting for third-party content. Therefore, minimizing the use of this can improve your page speed.
4 – Activate Website Caching
WordPress websites are database driver. Thus, loading pages requires a database lookup, which can add a little time to page speed. Caching stores such database calls and creates versions of pages that can be quickly loaded. Activating caching either directly on your server or with a plugin is one of the most common ways to improve website page speed.
Other Ways to Improve Website Page Speed
The above are the 4 most common ways to improve website page speed. If you are experiencing slow page load, try these 4 solutions first. If they don’t significantly improve your website’s performance, then you can take a more in-depth look at what else might be causing the problem. Resources such as Google PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom or the developer tools available right in your browser can trace loading of specific elements and help you identify what might be causing delays.
