No one wants their visitors to suffer from slow page loading. One of the most valuable tools for page speed optimization is Google PageSpeed Insights. If you’re serious about having a successful website that out-performs your competitors, you should be aiming for a PageSpeed score of 100, or as close to this as possible.
Attaining a perfect 100/100 PageSpeed score is a trial-and-error process that varies for each website. In any case, there are a number of steps that everyone should take along the road to achieving optimal performance.
Optimize images
Images are a common cause of slowdown problems. There are two ways to make images load faster:
- Match the image’s dimensions to the intended display size
- Decrease the file size of the image
If the image’s actual dimensions are different from what displays on the page, CSS or HTML may be performing image size adjustment on the fly. This can significantly slow the page down. If this problem is occurring, use an image editing tool to adjust the image dimensions to match the intended display size.
To reduce the image’s file size you can use a compression tool. There are free tools available online that can reduce the file size of an image by up to 80% without any perceptible loss in quality.
Reduce latency with a Content Delivery Network
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) improves page speed optimization via a network of servers that send data more quickly to the end user. The servers on the network, called nodes, cache static content on the web site, such as images and script files.
By transmitting data from nodes that are geographically closer to the end user, a CDN reduces the transmit time to the user’s computer. A good example of this is the product offered by CDNsun. It is a low-cost solution that provides a large global node network and robust integration features.
Fix render blocking problems
A common problem with WordPress sites is above-the-fold JavaScript and CSS files. There are WordPress plugins available, such as AutOptimize and W3 Total Cache, that allow you to adjust the way CSS and JavaScript run during page loading. With a little bit of trial and error, you should be able to change a few settings and eliminate the render blocking problems from above-the-fold scripts.
Enable Gzip compression
Gzip compression is a feature available through the host server that reduces the size of the script files by up to 90%. If your site is not configured to enable this feature, you could use a free plugin to enable the feature or do it manually with some changes to your server’s .htaccess file.
These steps should help boost your PageSpeed score. If you still haven’t achieved that lofty goal of 100%, there are likely to be other suggestions provided by the PageSpeed Insights tool that will help you improve your website until it achieves maximum speed.