Statistics show that one half of internet users will abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Almost 80% of Internet users will not return to a site that performs poorly. Even if the content is more informative than a competitor’s site, the user will most likely choose the website with better performance and loading speed.
Website performance optimization
Before proceeding further with the advice that we have outlined, please take a minute to estimate the status quo of your web presence first.
Test website speed
Use any online tool for testing your website’s speed (for instance Google’s PageSpeed test or Webpagetest.org). If your website is WordPress based, check out a useful plugin WP performance profiler to increase your WP site’s speed.
Load test your website
Go to Load Impact or Blitz to understand what may be stopping your users from having a good experience while visiting your website.
1. Optimize the Images
Images are the objects that occupy a lot of space on a web page and “eat” more than a half of a website’s speed. SVG files may be compressed by 58%! Raster images are optimized by means of lowering the color depth in certain pixels.
Visit this site to try one of the best compression tools for Windows and this one – for Mac. For WordPress, use the Optimus plugin.
2. Attention to Web Fonts
Web fonts are render blocking, consequently, they add additional HTTP requests.
- Choose reasonable font families and only those you really need
- Host fonts locally
- Use CSS Shorthand
3. Fix 404 Errors
If the website visitor makes a request for a file that doesn’t exist, a 404 HTTP error is generated. Use an Online Broken Link Checker to find and eliminate dead links.
4. Avoid Redirects
Try using 301 redirects as rarely as possible, since they decrease website performance.
5. Reduce the number of HTTP Requests
- Remove odd images!
- Make your JavaScript asynchronous.
- Inline your JavaScript if it’s very small.
- Use CSS Sprites.
- Combine your JavaScript files.
6. Optimize Rendering
JavaScript, CSS and HTML slow down pages. Minify CSS and use media queries for marking some CSS assets as non-render blocking.
7. Minify your CSS and JavaScript
Minification means deleting unnecessary characters. Use Grunt tools or WordPress Cache Enabler.
8. Content Delivery Network (CDN)
CDN is a system of servers located around the globe. It can reduce latency by half!
9. Caching
Data caching is important for website optimization. Use a Cache-Control HTTP header to define when and how a response will be cached.
10. Use GZIP Compression
GZIP is the best choice for compressing CSS, JavaScript and HTML at the server. We recommend W3 Total Cache.
11. Mind TTFB (Time To First Byte)
A good web server has a fast TTFB. You may reduce TTFB by using reliable hosting and DNS provider.
12. Prefetch and Preconnect
- Prefetching: Allows the browser to know which resources the visitor would need in the nearest future.
- Preconnect: Resolves DNS before the HTTP request is sent to the server.
13. PHP 7 and HHVM
Upgrade your PHP 5.6 to PHP 7 to increase performance twofold. HHVM is a compiler for PHP that also serves faster loading speed.
14. Hosting
Choose a reliable web hosting provider. We recommend buying a VPS (Virtual Private Server) subscription for better control and reliability.
15. Optimize Database
Clean out old and unused tables, and create indexes for faster access. Optimize MySQL configuration settings like tmp_table_size and query_cache_size.
Final words
Follow these tips and recommendations to definitely give wings to your website. Start optimizing now!
