Would you be happy spending time waiting for a website to load? Most definitely not. Similarly, Google does not like slow websites. The search algorithms used by Google value user experience, meaning that fast websites are favored.
A few years ago, Google used algorithms that emphasized content more than anything else. They looked at things like keywords. Due to this, people created websites with a lot of content but used relevant keywords. This placed them at the top of Google search results.
Unfortunately, website visitors were not happy with their experience. Since Google wanted to be the top search engine, it changed its algorithms to offer users what they wanted. Even though content and keywords still play an essential role, website speed is also crucial.
Why Google Prioritizes Fast Websites
You have to make sure that your website has great value for you to be in Google’s good books. For instance, your website should provide informative product descriptions or articles that offer website visitors everything that they need.
In addition, you need to ensure that your website loads fast. Website visitors are not going to spend time waiting for your website to load when they can also check what your competitors have to offer.
Google has developed algorithms that look at website speed. These algorithms do not send users to websites that they (the users) are likely going to abandon before getting what they are looking for. This is one of the main reasons why Google considers website speed.
If you are not sure about the speed of your website, you can use different speed test tools online. Apart from determining the speed of your website, they will also let you know about measures you can take to improve the speed.
How to Increase Your Website Loading Speed
Resize Your Images Before Uploading Them
Websites are supposed to be visual to help users understand the message they are trying to pass. This means that images, logos, and pictures are heavily used to ensure that a website meets the requirements of its users.
However, it is important to note that images can slow down the speed of your website. You need to resize your images before uploading them to ensure that your website has a balance of speed and clarity.
If you have a lot of images to upload to your website, you can use a batch photo editor to resize and customize them all without any problems. This reduces the load time of your website.
Use CDN (Content Delivery Network)
A Content Delivery Network can be described as a server network distributed in different locations across the globe. It allows users to access web content no matter where they are. The speed of your website is affected by the location of your website visitors.
For instance, if a user is located far from the location of your server, they are likely going to experience more loading time compared to one who is not far. This is a challenge solved through the use of CDN.
CDN ensures that your website traffic is distributed across different servers in different locations. This improves the speed of your website, no matter where it is accessed from.
Reduce or Avoid Redirects
Sometimes, you might forward your website visitors to a different page instead of the one they wanted to visit. While doing this, more HTTP requests are created. This requires more processing time, reducing the speed of your website.
The truth is that most websites rely heavily on redirects. It is, however, a challenge for website owners to completely avoid them. If this sounds like your website, try as much as you can to reduce them.
The best option is to make sure that you are using direct links. This is essential in reducing the chains created by redirects. It also improves the general performance of your website. WordPress website owners can do this using some of the top WordPress plugins we have today.
Do Not Host Videos Internally
Website owners use videos as part of their content. They (the videos) add value to the content and help visitors to understand what the website is all about. However, did you know that hosting videos internally is not a good idea?
Videos take up a considerable amount of server space. In addition, your bandwidth will be drained when you have multiple people watching the videos at the same time. This will slow down your website speed. You should, therefore, use an external service to host your videos and simply embed them whenever needed.
Your website speed plays an important role when it comes to ranking on Google search results. It is also important in improving user experience. You can optimize the speed of your website by following the techniques discussed above.
