Low pagespeed? Find out how to fix it

Page speed is usually confused with site speed. To put it simply, page speed can be described in either - the total time it takes to fully display the content on a specific page or how long it takes for your browser to receive the first byte of information from the web server.

Why should you, as a publisher, be worried about your page speed? Page speed is important to user experience. Pages with a longer load time tend to have higher bounce rates and lower average time on page. Longer load times have also been shown to negatively affect conversions. This is why you need to pay attention to your page speed.

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Google has indicated that speed and page speed as one of the signals used by its algorithm to rank pages. And research has shown that Google might be specifically measuring time to first byte as when it considers page speed. In addition, lower page speed would translate that search engines can crawl lesser pages and this could negatively have an affect on your indexation.

Here are a few ways you can improve your page speed. We've been ensuring that websites keep high core vital scores, read more about it here.

1. Lazy Loading

Lazy loading advertisements can help with visibility. It would improve page speed. This would mean that your content could be accessed quickly while your ads load slowly. This would typically result in a reduced number of advertisement impressions.

User behavior on the site can also affect the lazy loading. The number of users from target geography tend to be far more than that of non-target geographies. This would mean that chances of having microsessions increase significantly in target geos. Higher microsessions would mean more bounce rates and less time spent on pages leads to lesser impact of lazy loading on ad viewability.

2. Improve server response time

The things that can have an impact on your server response time include the traffic you receive, the resources each page uses, the software your server uses, and your hosting solution.

Inorder to improve your server response time you need to look for slow database queries, slow routing, or a lack of adequate memory and then have them fixed. The optimal server response time is under 200ms.

3. Use a content distribution network

Content distribution networks (CDNs), also called content delivery networks, are networks of servers that distribute your native content. Simply put, copies of your site are stored at multiple diverse data centers so that users have faster access to your site.

4. Optimize your images

You need to reduce the overall loading time and high quality images aren’t going to help. Ensure that your images are clear but they needn’t be the highest quality (unless you have the platform support for it). For your reference, PNGs are generally better for graphics with fewer than 16 colors while JPEGs are generally better for photographs.

You may also make use of CSS sprites to create a template for images that you use frequently on your site like buttons and icons. CSS sprites combine your images into one large image that loads all at once, saving load time by not making users wait for multiple images to load.

5. Look into heavier elements

Videos, gifs, attachments might take longer to load. There are simpler tools today that can be used to reduce the size of such files without compromising the quality. It's important that the users have quick access to the rich multimedia you aim to publish.

6. Embed using third party hosting platform

If you're a bold user, then you can embed videos from youtube or daily motion. This helps significantly reduce the load on your website. Rather than uploading the video directly onto your platform, try a third party hosting platform.

As discussed, it's important to keep track of your page speed. There are many tools that can help you get the right numbers. Google insights would be inarguably the most popular of these. But here are a few you could use:

1. Google pagespeed Insights

2. GTmetrix

3. KeyCDN Website Speed Test

4. Solarwinds Pingdom Speed Test

5. WebPageTest

Page speed will always have an impact on the user experience. This is why it’s crucial to have regular checks on all important pages and keep track of any patterns. Taking measures mentioned above can help you negate any low pagespeed instances but as the content grows on your website, you must pay close attention to the page speed. All smaller elements will collectively help you grow your traffic and relevance in the digital publishing space.