How to optimize the loading time
Google’s algorithm uses speed as a main indicator to rank pages in SEO. Slow page speed means that search engines can crawl fewer pages, negatively impacting your indexing. Optimization is a strategy to increase the speed at which a page loads. Here are some pointers on how to optimize the loading time.
Choosing the right host
When it comes to choosing a web host, the choice is not easy. There are a lot of them and at all prices. You might think of a web host with an affordable price, or even not expensive at all, but be careful. These savings may be at the expense of the quality of the service.
How to optimize the loading time: check your coding
A cause of bad loading time may be inefficient Javascript and CSS resources. If not properly configured, some of your website’s resources can slow down its loading, which could make it longer to display your website, in part or in full, to users. Some resources can be deferred so as not to slow down the display of the site. Others, unnecessary, can be removed.
Check your HTTP requests
Minimize your HTTP requests and redirections & prioritize the content to be loaded. A website is made of many elements, not always visible to the user, nevertheless each of them requires an HTML request, and thus a reading, which increases by its presence the loading time of the said page. Some of these elements are invisible and useless from a user experience point of view. It is therefore a good idea to eliminate them in order to reduce the number of requests and the loading time. To do this, inspect your web page, and carefully check each file to see if you need it or not.
Image compression
Another good tip for speeding up your site’s loading time is to compress images. Images uploaded to your site can be large and cause significant pressure on page load times.
Deactivate unused plugins
On different CMS like WordPress, plugins are usually the main culprits of slowing down the site. If there are plugins that you no longer use or that are no longer essential, delete them to avoid unnecessary slowing down of the site.
Remember: Not considering the loading time of your website in your digital strategy is to ignore one of the main components of SEO.