With user expectations for fast-loading websites continually rising and search engines placing more emphasis on speed as a ranking factor, optimising site speed is more essential than ever in 2024. A slow-loading website can frustrate users and lead to higher bounce rates, impacting both conversion rates and SEO performance.
Studies show that a one-second delay in page load time can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. According to Google, as page load time increases from one to five seconds, the probability of a mobile user bouncing rises by 90%. Additionally, Core Web Vitals, part of Google’s ranking signals, prioritise metrics like loading speed and interactivity.
A faster site not only improves user experience but can also help boost your search rankings, increasing visibility and traffic.
Here are five simple yet impactful ways to improve your site’s loading speed in 2024:
1. Optimise Image Sizes & Format
Why it Matters: Images are often the largest assets on a page, and large file sizes can significantly slow down load times. Optimising images ensures they load quickly without sacrificing quality.
Quick Solution: Use modern image formats such as WebP or AVIF, which provide high quality with smaller file sizes. Plugins like Imagify and Smush can automatically compress images in WordPress, making it easy to keep image sizes in check.
Top Tip
If you have the right skills and tools, we recommend optimising images before uploading them to your site. Use a tool like Photoshop to resize and reformat each image, and then compress them by using tools such as TinyPNG to reduce file size without sacrificing quality.
This approach will ensure your images are optimised before you even upload them, preventing the need to add additional bloat to your site by adding an extra plugin.
2. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML
Why it Matters: Overly complex code and extraneous spaces or characters in CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files can cause unnecessary slowdowns by increasing page bloat.
Quick Solution: Minifying these files removes any non-essential code, reducing file sizes and improving load speed. Tools like CSSNano, UglifyJS, and Minify can handle this, or use CMS plugins to automate the process.
3. Leverage Browser Caching
Why it Matters: Browser caching allows a user’s browser to save parts of your website on their device, meaning repeat visitors won’t need to re-download static files, speeding up load times.
Quick Solution: Set caching rules via your CMS or through server-side settings, specifying cache durations for assets like images, CSS, and JavaScript files. Using a caching plugin such as WP Rocket or service can simplify this setup.
4. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Why it Matters: A CDN distributes copies of your website’s assets across multiple servers around the world, reducing latency by serving content from the server closest to the user.
Quick Solution: CDNs like Cloudflare or Amazon CloudFront integrate easily with most websites and can drastically reduce load times, especially for users located far from your primary server.
5. Reduce HTTP Requests
Why it Matters: Each asset on a page requires an HTTP request, so the more elements you have, the slower your page will load.
Quick Solution: Streamline your site by combining CSS and JavaScript files where possible, and remove unused plugins and third-party scripts. This will reduce HTTP requests, helping the page load faster.
Need Support Optimising Your Website?
Struggling to get the most out of your website? We offer maintenance and optimisation website solutions, individually tailored to each of our clients’ needs.
If you need support in optimising your site, get in touch to request support.
