How To Improve Page Speed For Fast Loading Times

Compressing Images/File Size

Large, uncompressed images can significantly slow down your website, increasing load time and affecting your SEO rankings. Overly large image files can also negatively impact Core Web Vitals, especially the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).

Solution: Compress and resize images before uploading, ensuring they match the display size on your site. Use modern formats like WebP for better compression without quality loss. Optimising images improves loading times and helps maintain a smooth user experience.

For reducing image file size, use TinyPNG website and to convert to webp format you can use Cloud Converter Online for free.

By Asynchronous Loading of Resources

The web browser needs to load page content and resources in sequence and load each element in order. This causes waiting for each element to fully load before loading the next element. If there are many resources to load, page load time is very slow.

Asynchronous loading allows the loading of the resources (images, videos, and scripts) independently from each other. In this way browser does not need to wait for each element to load before showing the page to the user.

It also allows faster rendering of pages as resources are loaded independently and simultaneously which prevents blocking the rendering process. For example, The JavaScript libraries can be loaded asynchronously while the rest of the page continues to load.

If a page has a lot of resources or a complex layout, asynchronous loading is an effective method to improve page load speed.

By Use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

CDN stores cached websites on multiple servers in different international locations around the world. When a browser requests to download content, a file, or some other resource, the CDN then fetches them from the nearest server which decreases the distance between the requesting browser and resource location. It reduces the time required to download resources over the internet. The use of CDN greatly increases page speed.

By Implementing Lazy Loading

If all media (images, videos) are loaded at once, it can delay the initial page load, affecting the First Input Delay (FID) and user interaction.

Solution: Implement lazy loading to only load media when it’s in view, speeding up initial content display. This optimises Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) and overall page performance, improving both user experience and SEO.

For LazyLoading , you can use wordpress plugins like Perfmatters or WpRocket.

By Loading Critical Content First

The portion of the web page that is immediately visible without scrolling is above-the-fold content. Loading essential elements like headlines, images and calls to action in this area provides users with a meaningful experience quickly.

By Delaying Nonessential Scripts and Resources

Analytics trackers, social networking widgets, and other nonessential resources are not necessary to load first and can wait until after the first page loads. Deferring these to load later makes important content to load first which improves page speed.

By Limited Use of HTTP Requests

Web pages make many HTTP requests for many assets on the page like images, scripts, and CSS files, which results in many round trips to and from the server hosting them, which causes the page to load slower. Reducing them to a minimum is beneficial for faster page load. Also combining multiple JavaScript and CSS files reduces the number of HTTP requests.

By Reducing the Server Response Time

Server response time is the time between the browser’s page request and the first byte of data delivered. By using efficient server software and minimizing server-side processing it can be optimized for faster page load speed.

Hosting service is another major factor in the server response time. There are many hosting providers that exist. Choosing the server with the best up-time, bandwidth, and closely located to the target audience, is very important.
Another thing to consider in server response time is server configuration, appropriate configuration for best response time is also a key factor.

By Use of Browser Caching

The browser can store static files in a temporary location which is called browser cache. It can be used to store files from previously visited web pages. A web page can cache static and repetitive elements to load quickly when revisited. Using a browser cache greatly reduces the amount of data the server needs to transfer in subsequent requests.

More advanced caching techniques can be used for dynamic websites which reduces database queries. Using browser cache plays an important role in reducing server load, and optimizing content delivery, bandwidth costs, and hosting costs.

Caching optimises server response times and improves both user experience and search engine rankings

By Reducing Processing Time on the Server

Normally the HTML documents of web pages are different for different users. Generating the HTML is done by loading data from a database and using templates that are based on user location and preferences. Caching parts of HTML for page revisiting speeds up server response as the HTML is already stored in the browser cache and the server is not required to regenerate HTML.

By Reducing Rendering Times

When the browser downloads all the resources a web page requires the process is not completed there. The browser also needs time to, display the layout, process resources, load widgets, and render dynamic content. A quick reading is also important for a better user experience.

By Using Less JavaScript

JavaScript provides functionality for web pages like notifications, animations, and sliders. But they also slow down page load speed as it requires processing code by the user browser. Less use of JavaScript can increase page load speed.

By Placing JavaScript and CSS in External Files

If JavaScript and CSS are directly written in an HTML document they are downloaded every time the page loads. Placing them in external files allows not only to use browser caching for them but also easier to update and maintain.

By Limiting Use of External Scripts

JavaScript provides interactive functionality for users but excessive use of scripts slows down page load speed, especially if the scrips are large. Because the browsers need to download these heavy scripts and then process them. Limited use of scripts improves page load speed.

By Minifying CSS and JavaScript files

Minifying means removing anything that a computer does not need to process the code. This includes comments, white spaces, line breaks, indentations,  and any other things that are used for human readability.

It also removes unnecessary & repetitive code and long function names. Minifying JavaScript and CSS files makes their file size smaller for fast loading and increasing page speed by decreasing the time required for the browser to parse and execute the code.

Inlining and Deferring CSS, JS Files

Blocking CSS and JavaScript can delay the rendering of important page elements, resulting in a slower page load and negative performance metrics.

Solution: Inline critical CSS and defer non-essential JavaScript to load after the page content. This ensures quicker page rendering, reducing Render-Blocking Resources and improving overall speed.

For Inlining/deferring, you can simply use plugins like wprocket or perfmatters.

By Compressing Text

By enabling text compression on the server the size of text content can be minimized. The minimized text can quickly be served and the browser also downloads it faster which increases page load speed.

Avoiding Page Builders

Page builders are an easy way to create web pages as the developer only needs to build a web page with graphics elements and code is generated by software automatically. However, their drawback is that they generate bloated and unnecessary code. This makes web pages heavier and slows down page load speed.

Reducing Cookie Size

Cookies are used by websites to store user data on browsers. They normally contain data about users which the website uses to generate pages as per user preferences. The browser sends cookies to the server with every request. If the cookie size is large or contains unnecessary data it can decrease page load time. Using minimal-sized cookies is the best way to increase page load speed.

Reducing the use of Web Fonts

The use of web fonts is common on websites but they add extra HTTP requests to servers and have a negative effect on page speed. Using fewer fonts and only required characters is required for efficient page load speed.