We may begin the process of enhancing a website's performance once we begin to understand the reasons why it is loading slowly. We'll go through 7 factors that slow down your website in this post.
So let's not waste our time and start our topic
Before You Start, Take Speed Test Of Your Website
To take the speed test of your site use webpagetest.org and tools.pingdom.com , free speedtest tools. These programmes examine data like website load speed and the largest contentful paint (LCP). LCP is a rendering metric that measures how long it takes for the largest block to load in the visitor's viewport. To put it simply, it is the amount of time it takes for a website to show its largest block. That is, the section of a website's home page that is the biggest and takes the longest to load. These programmes also identify areas that could use improvement, including picture compression, use of CDN and the scripts that are taking long to load.
What Makes A WordPress Website Slow?
1. Non-Optimized Images
Website lag is primarily caused by images. Rarely do people compress their images, which can result in significant rendering delays. If you upload an image that is 800 × 800 pixels but that specific section required 400 × 400 pixels, the 400 additional pixels will take longer to load. The image's resolution will also be poor.
Now that you have the ability to display a 400x400 pixel picture in that specific portion, the 800x800 pixel image must be compressed on the backend when the browser loads this image, making the 800x800 pixel image 400 pixels. Your website's speed will drop because it will take some time to compress and the image won't load until then. Because your server will be under more strain as a result and won't be able to respond as quickly.
It is preferable to start with the correct size (width and height) to display on the website rather than waiting for the browser to download and resize the image.
You can do one of the following things for this:
- Use image compression or resizing tool for uploading correctly sized image. Some examples of such tools are: Tinypng ، Optimole ، WP Smush etc.
- You can defer the loading of image until it comes into the view port of the visitor. This is called Lazy Loading.
2. Not Using Any Caching Plugin
No justification exists for not using a caching plugin. If you are not caching website pages, your server may become overloaded with requests, which can cause your website to load slowly or possibly crash. Visitors to a website can quickly view a static HTML file thanks to caching. Data that is initially loaded into unused RAM can be stored and used again thanks to caching. You avoid having to repeatedly access the server to fulfil the request in this manner, which lessens the burden on the server and enhances its performance. Make use of the W3 Total Cache Plugin if your website is slow. Many websites utilize this free plugin, which is available for download.
3. Not Using CDN
The location of your web servers can affect the speed of your website for different people in different geographical regions. In order to save visitors time, CDNs keep your data synchronized and close to them from around the world. The burden on the hosting is lowered and user experience is improved since CDNs store the site's static files such JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and pictures.
To enhance user experience, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) carry out globally dispersed caching by storing static files for your website on servers around the world. This ensures that the website is always accessible from any location.
4. Background Processes
The best times to execute website backups, scheduled postings, or updates are when there is little website traffic. Ensure that these options have the least amount of impact. For instance, only the pages that were altered need to be stored in your backup, not every page. Some plugins may cause your website to load slowly. Some plugins consume a lot of resources and can materially slow down page speed. Particularly those that gather data, carry out SEO tasks, compile statistics, or make backups.
5۔ Bandwidth Limitation
You can use GZIP to make your page more accessible to users with limited bandwidth because it uses less data to load. GZIP speeds up pages, boosts SEO, and enhances user experience by compressing files by up to 90%. GZIP is a free, open source software application which can be added in your site for general servers by using one of the Github's listed configurations. If you want to know whether you have added GZIP properly into your site, go to GZIP Tester and enter your site url there. If it is integrated properly, it will give a success message saying "GZIP Is Activated"
6۔ Excessive Page Requests
The page's elements are all HTTP requests. Therefore, streamlining the page's design can significantly impact how many queries are necessary to load the page and how quickly it loads. Keep in mind that every image is a separate request. By carefully evaluating your code, you can minimize redundant components. Your CSS files should be combined into a single style sheet. The same may be said for your Javascript files. You can accomplish this with any plugin. Your page will load more quickly if you make fewer page requests.
7۔ Unoptimized Code
Developers can comprehend source code more easily because of indentations, while a browser only sees them as extra data. The number of extra characters and the code comments also lengthen the time it takes for a page to load. Simply put, we should remove as many spaces from our code as we can. The "Minify" plugin is one of the numerous plugins that are used for this purpose. Your CSS, JavaScript, and website source code are free of whitespace.
Whenever possible, use "Media Types" to optimize the CSS code. Additionally, non-critical CSS can be configured to load "inline" or "asynchronously," which we also refer to as "lazy loading," for components that appear below the fold. We can enhance the functionality of our website by differentiating between important and non-critical CSS. The background color, the view port style (the area in front of the screen), and the device specifications are all examples of CSS that are typically regarded as crucial.
Javascript non-essential resources cannot be loaded by utilizing the Defer Attribute (especially third-party Javascript).
Conclusion
The improvement in the speed of your website can impact your search engine results in three different ways. in 2010, Google Added Desktop Speed and in 2018Mobile Speed, in its search result. In June 2021, Google added Core Web Vitals , which is its third level of page speed. It is used to improve the page experience. Website speed indirectly affects the bounce rate, which ultimately affects the site ranking. More than half of the visitors leave a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.
