Improve Site SEO by Improving Site Speed

Google is behind site owners to improve site SEO. Content is king and quality content is pushed at the top of Google SERP because one of the largest search engine leaders Google is changing the rules of SEO on an ongoing basis. Today’s SEO is not what it was yesterday and tomorrow’s SEO would not remain what is it today. SEO rules are changing, SEO techniques are changing and so the the world of Internet is also changing very rapidly. It would not be wrong to use the word “Dynamic SEO”, rather than SEO considering all the ongoing changes in Google’s search engine algorithms. (Latest being Panda 4.0)

Fast Loading Sites are Better Ranked on Google SERP

Google believes that a fast Internet is the right of each and every Internet surfer or a digizen. It is because of this reason that the page load time and website load speed has been considered as one of the important factors in Google’s search engine algorithms. In order to rank higher in Google SERP, every Webmaster and every site owner must place a priority to reduce the page load time of their site as well as increase the website load speed.

A professional site optimizer can get sites run super fast, but by following some of the basic site optimization rules, anyone can get a moderate level reduction in page load time and a moderate level increment in website load speed time.

The success of online businesses is dependent on the site speed load time because a slow loading site is discarded by most of the users. The world is running fast and if a site is not opened within the first three seconds of supplying the URL, readers will leave the site and will never return back again. Better SEO helps in retaining readers on the site and also helps in reducing the bounce rate.

Improve SEO by Reducing Landing Page Load Time

The landing page of any site is most important because the readers are using it as a gateway to your site. It is like a showroom, displaying everything that an online business is capable of doing. You have everything from your site showcased on the homepage, but you must check if it is densely populated ! As the size of your page increases, the page load time also increases.

In general, page load time for 1 MB page should be 1 second, for 2 MB page 2 seconds and for 3 MB page, the page load time should not be more than 3 seconds.  A very simple and straightforward advice – KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid). Populate the home page of your site carefully so that it does not carries anything not needed. For better SEO of your landing page, only use the minimal objects on it.

Fast Web Servers Offer High Site Speed

Selecting the web host server is as important as selecting the right web host plan. Personally, I am using Bluehost from around an year and quite happy with the services, although I am thinking about WP Engine as many positive reviews talk about its excellent service for WordPress hosting. Make a trade off between the price, functions and the page load time.

On one hand, a good web hosting plan pumps all the power needed by a site, while a bad web hosting plan may not even supply the necessary oxygen required for the survival of a website. Do your own research and act diligently before buying a web hosting plan that is able to meet your website’s requirements.

Balance your budget against the features offered by a web host service provider and the features required for your site. Creating a balance is important to improve page speed and improve sitte SEO. One of my good friends, Mark de Scande did a case study on the importance of web host servers for site speed optimization.

Non Optimized Images Reduce Page Load Time

Images do beautify our blogs, but simultaneously images are also among one of the heaviest items loaded on a site. No site can compromise with the page load time, just to make it look beautiful. The beauty of your site is of no use, if the readers are not able to see your blog due to its increased page load time or reduced website load speed.

It doesn’t means that you have to remove the images, rather you have to upload the optimized images. Crop the images to remove the undesired areas, scale it to the actual image size used in your site and don’t let the site codes re-size the images at the time of rendering. Make it a habit to use only progressive jpeg images as these are much smaller in size, without compromising the quality of the images at your site.

Use some efficient image editors to edit your image before uploading it to your site. GIMP Image Editor is a free resource to edit images on Linux OS.

Good Cache Plugins Improve Page Load Time

Many cache plugins are freely available for use. Get the one that you are most comfortable using at your site. W3 Total Cache, Quick Cache, Autoptimize are some of the very good cache plugins used by many WordPress site developers and owners.

Remember that only getting a cache plugin on your site isn’t enough, but configuring it to achieve the optimum performance is the actual skill. The better you tune your cache plugin, better is your page load time and better is Site SEO.

Asynchronous JavaScript Improves Site Load Speed

Mismanaged JavaScripts also tend to slow down the page load time of a site. Try using php and css codes as much as possible. If using JavaScript is a necessity, use the asynchronous version of JavaScript so that it doesn’t stands in front of your site, but loads the content of your site in parallel, without increasing the page load time.

Also use the right and optimized templates to minimize the page load overheads. A diligent use of asynchronous Javascripts can help you reduce page load time, increase web load speed and enhance the Site SEO.

Serving Ads Increases Page Load Time

Optimize the number of ads displayed on your website. Most of the ads are based on JavaScript and as you increase the number of ads, JavaScript increases the page size, thus making page load time slow. Also try using asynchronous codes wherever possible to improve the SEO of your site.

Every ad is associated with an overhead and for better page load times, keep the ad load on your site to the bare minimum.

Badly Coded WordPress Widgets Spoils Site SEO

Never use a widget, unless and until it is really needed. Every widget has its own overhead. Placing a widget on a page means adding the overhead to the page load time of the site. Make a cost benefit analysis before selecting any widget. Scale the benefits of using a widget against the overhead thrown and the increase in page load time.

Use a WordPress widget only and only if, it is really needed to enhance the functions of your site, without causing any detrimental effect to the page load time of your site. A good selection of widgets can keep the page load time under control and help you improve your site SEO.

Above mentioned page speed parameters are only some of the most simple and easily controllable parameters to decrease the page load time of a site, although there are many more speed factors, even much more complicated than the ones mentioned above. Taking control of the above mentioned parameters can help any site owner and/or blogger to reduce page load times of their sites or blogs.

A reduction in page load time results in an increase in website load speed, thus opening a new gateway for the success of businesses. Analyzing and tracking some SEO leading indicators for better SEO is also quite helpful.

Do share your thoughts about page load time and do share any tips and tricks that you may be using at your site or blog for reducing page load time, enhancing site load speed and improving the SEO of your site. Let us collectively disseminate information for the benefit of all the site owners and bloggers.