Site Speed and Why It Matters
January 18, 2023
By: Tiffany Hindman
One second can make a difference. Even though it may not seem like a lot of time, in a world where users expect sites they visit to load instantly, one second is all it takes to lose them.
Site speed is one of the most important aspects of a mobile or desktop site and can greatly affect conversion rates, page views and customer satisfaction. According to Think With Google bounce rates increase with the following load times:
Image Optimization
Image size is one of the biggest culprits of slow loading page speed. Before any optimization occurs on the images you should ask yourself if they are really necessary. In this situation less is always more.
After you have decided if your images are absolutely imperative to have on your site, here are a few steps to help optimize those images:
Choose the Correct Image Format
- WebP. – is an image format that has lossless compression for images. This allows for the creation of smaller images that load faster on the web. According to Google WebP images are 26% smaller than PNGs and 25%-34% smaller than JPEGs.
- JPEG: Photos with no transparency
- PNG: Transparent backgrounds
- SVG: Scalable icons and shapes
Compress Images
- Can be done by removing the meta data from the images (like date and time)
- Limit sizes to 72pdi
- Don’t make images larger than the max width of your site
- Fit images to the size of the area – for example if the image is going to the right of some text it would not need to be the max width of the site, therefore you can save some load time by reducing the size of the image to fit the area it will show in.
Use Lazy Loading Techniques
- According to Mozilla lazy loading identifies an asset as non-critical and therefore will only load as needed. Lazy Loading can be applied to
- Javascript
- HTML
- CSS
Avoid too many 3rd party apps
Using any third party app will add code to your site which may slow it down. It is recommended to only use apps that are absolutely necessary for site functionality to decrease the risk of slow page speeds for customers. If using any type of JS for implementation it can be beneficial to only add this property to the pages that will be using it.
Content Optimization
Too much unnecessary content can weigh down a site. This is especially important for a home page, limiting the number of products and the details shown for said products can increase site efficiency exponentially.
Additionally, having a simple menu structure can help increase the speed of the site. Customers are still able to access all the site has to offer without an overabundance of images and details. This is definitely an important consideration when thinking in terms of mobile usage.
In conclusion there are several different ways one can optimize a site and increase the speed, there are also several different sites that allow you to test your site speed and usability. Google offers a Mobile Friendly Tester for free. Site optimization is an important consideration for a successful usable site.
Interested in learning more about how Strabo Partners and how we can take your website and ecommerce engine to the next level?