Search Engine Optimization is a big part of being found in the online world. One part of SEO is website speed. That is impacted by the hosting, JavaScript, CDN, Expires Headers and more. GTMetrix is one website where you can measure the load time of your website. There are some updates to your website that can be done to positively impact the load time. Below, we have shared just a few of these.
Defer Parsing of JavaScript:
Some have heard of JavaScript but don’t know exactly what it is. Essentially it is a programming language. According to Search Engine Watch, “JavaScript (aka scripts or JS) is one of the triumvirate of technologies that make web pages (and web apps) work. The HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) controls the structure and content of the webpage; CSS (Cascade Styling Sheets) controls how the site looks on different devices; and JavaScript makes the page more interactive and dynamic.” Deferring the JavaScript tells it to load in the background then run it once it loads. Essentially, this helps to have the page load more quickly.
Image Size:
Most people want to use images on their website but did you know that lossless compression is key in website load time? According to ScienceDirect, “Lossless compression is a method of data compression in which the size of the file is reduced without sacrificing image quality.”
Expires Headers:
Expires headers lets a browser know whether to load a cached version of your site. Cached data is information from a website or app that is stored on your device to make the browsing process faster.
Content Delivery System (CDN):
Most have never heard of a Content Delivery Network and why it positively impacts Search Engine Optimization. According to Cloudflare, “A content delivery network (CDN) refers to a geographically distributed group of servers which work together to provide fast delivery of Internet content. A CDN allows for the quick transfer of assets needed for loading Internet content including HTML pages, JavaScript files, stylesheets, images, and videos. Essentially this allows a website to load more quickly because it is pulling your content from a server closest to them. This provides your end user a better experience. A person will stay on your website longer and because the website is being pulled from the cloud, it will not be down for any length of time.
Why does this matter? If people click to go on your website, they want an optimal user experience. If the website loads slowly, that will not be the case and the user will bounce off the website quickly. In addition, Google also penalizes websites that load slowly. Pay attention to your load speed and make sure your website is loading smoothly and quickly.
