Website Page Speed 101: Facts You Should Know
Have you ever experienced slow page speed while on a website? Whether it is your own website or someone else’s, this can be a frustrating experience. Most people believe their internet service provider is the culprit, never really considering their page speed as an internal issue and although download speed and your internet package certainly plays a part in how quickly your website loads, there are also many other factors that determine the speed in which content appears in the browser. Forward Web has put together this list of facts as a guide to help you understand what you should know about page speed, consider this page speed 101!
Speed is such an important part of a person’s website experience that Google decided to include this aspect in their ranking process. This process greatly affects how your website appears in the search engine results page. At least half of all internet consumers expect a webpage to load in 2 seconds or less but, the Google experts expect an optimized website that is worthy of their top rankings to load in under half a second. The fact of the matter is that the internet world is a very competitive market and page speed can lead to serious losses in transactions solely due to the extra time in which people become frustrated and quickly move on to the next option.
With all this in mind, let’s explore what factors determine page speed:
Code
Coding is the true back-end of each website and if your CSS or HTML is too heavy, it will overpower your page speed.
Your Web Host
Where you host your site pays massive dividends when it comes to customer experience.
Your Theme
The theme you choose may have complex coding which adds to your load times.
External Media
YouTube videos and other content is a great idea, however, make sure it is only as large as you need it to appear (in terms of frame size).
Widgets
Widgets are another thing that can be coded densely and requires serious processing power.
Large Images
There is a significant difference between the necessary resolution for screen based imagery and print. Keep in mind that larger file sizes can be compressed to strip unnecessary data.
Too Many Ads
Too many ads can make your speed drag therefore, only use them if they are worth the extra processing.
Un-Optimization For Certain Browsers and Devices
With so many device and browser options available nowadays, your website will respond differently on each of them. This isn’t a huge issue most of the time but, for example, if your website is working great on Google but isn’t formatting correctly on Firefox then your ranking will be penalized.
It is typically impossible for the average website owner to know what is preventing their pages from loading efficiently, however, each of the facts above can contribute to overall speed. If you have already considered the above facts and are still experiencing slow page speed, fortunately, there are several accredited web tools that can assist you in determining if your website is loading slowly and where the weak points in your website are occurring (making it much easier to adjust or make the necessary corrections). We recommend Google’s PageSpeed Insights since the purpose of page optimization is to rank well with Google and knowing what they recommend for better page ranking is essential. Forward Web is always happy to answer any questions or provide you with further assistance when it comes to your page speed, so don’t hesitate to contact us.
