We all live in a world where time is priceless, therefore websites should be as fast as possible and easy to use. Waiting for a webpage to get Load is nobody’s favorite pastime. Furthermore, the website speed directly affects your rankings. Let’s check out some simple fixes you can use to speed up your website.

Before we begin, here’s a simple scale with which you can compare your results of page loadings:

Below 1 second = perfect
1-3 seconds = above average
3-7 seconds = average
7+ seconds = very poor                                                

These benchmarks are based on studies showing that 47% of people expect a web page to load in under two seconds, and 57% of visitors will abandon a page that takes 3 or more seconds to load.

Optimize images

Optimizing images literally means making image files as small as possible. Loading high-resolution images will sometimes keep you waiting for a long time. You can Reduce the waiting by optimizing them. That will improve your SEO and overall browsing experience for the visitors. You can use programs like these: Smart PNG and JPEG compression and Image optimizer for tidying up images.

Use file compression

Compressing pages is something like zipping them, shrinking, making them smaller and easier to load. Compressing your files will make your website up to 70% faster. There are two basic ways to compress your files, one has shown better results in saving space, If you have a lot of images and large files on your website, which is GZIP, and the other way is Deflate which is a little bit less efficient, but easier to use. You can test if your web site is compressed on GZIP.

Minify CSS and JavaScript

Minification in CSS and especially JavaScript, is the process of removing all Unnecessary Characters from source code without changing its functionality. Basically it removes commas, spaces, and other unnecessary characters. There are many pages for minifying such as CSS Minifier and JS Minifier.

Reduce redirects

When a web browser attempts to open a URL that has been redirected, a page with a different URL is opened. Redirecting from one page to the other reflects in additional waiting. You should pay attention to broken links and fix any you can find.

Optimize caching

With browser caching, you’re explicitly instructing the browser to hang onto particular files for a specified period of time. A web cache system stores copies of documents passing through it; subsequent requests may be satisfied from the cache if certain conditions are met. Cached page is useful only for certain amount of time (as long as the page is unchanged; not updated). Browser caching is a great tool for improving loading time and overall experience of your site. Returning visitors will load the pages much faster because the files are already cached and only need to be pulled to the screen.

Final Words

There are many different ways you can speed up your website and these are just a few easy examples how it can be done. Page load times have a great influence on bounce rate and all that ultimately adds up as negative SEO. Try experimenting with different settings and observe the difference in traffic, cause there will certainly be a positive change if you put enough effort into it.

Author bio: Sam Cyrus is CEO and co-founder of GWM Sydney SEO Services, a Digital Marketing agency from Australia. Sam is also a creative writer and likes to share his insights on entrepreneurship, business, online marketing, SEO and social media. He currently collaborates with Nirmal Web Designer Sydney.

The post 5 Tips To Reduce Page Load Time And Improve Your Website appeared first on WPTidBits.