Website speed has been an under-estimated ranking factor for some time, and continues to be so even now. However, with Google campaigning for a faster internet, it makes sense that the search engine considers page loading speeds when analysing any site.
Slow websites can be an exasperating experience. In fact, many will be put off by such an inconvenience to the extent that they will likely take their business elsewhere in such cases. Not only does a lack of haste create fury amongst users, it is also a contributor to reduced conversion rates, and lower traffic levels.
For these reasons, it is vital for any web designer to ensure that what can be done should be done to speed up the proceedings on their site. The obvious irritation felt when encountering a lethargic website should be enough for site developers to address the situation, but with the knowledge that Google consider this aspect when ranking websites, webmasters have this as an added incentive for site activity acceleration.
Although not deemed to be as influential as, say, the updated content or relevance of back links within a site, the speed factor could provide the edge with which you will leave competitors eating your dust in the race for pole position.
In order to achieve a faster loading time, there are several amendments which can be made. Firstly, ensure that any given page is not overloaded with content. Common sense dictates that the greater the page size, the longer it will take for said page to load.
In terms of images, make sure that they take up as little space as is needed; by cropping the image prior to uploading it onto a site, one can ensure that amount of data is not excessive for the required effect.
Technically, the opportunity to monitor your site via Google Analytics is highly beneficial. By keeping track of traffic levels and visitor activity within your site, it is possible to determine the general performance of your web pages. This is an ideal way to check that your SEO web design techniques are performing to their optimum levels.
Another advantageous alteration to consider is the caching of certain data. Content which is a staple part of your site, and which will change rarely, if at all, can be cached in order to reduce loading time. When a piece of information is cached, the browser need only refer to the data rather than downloading it every time a page is opened. This leads to a reduction of HTTP requests which in turn results in a reduced load time.
With many plug-ins available to help you monitor the speed of your website such as Firebug’s Page Speed feature, or the Speed Tracer application, you are not alone in carrying out such optimizations.
Please read the detailed pdf for “Best Practice to optimized your website”
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