Understand the importance of website speed to achieve good results
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2024 8:20 am
Notebook open and website loading due to slowness
No matter what your goal is with your company's website. Whether it's sales, traffic or leads, having a fast website is essential . Website speed impacts SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the user experience when browsing the website pages, and can make a big difference.
Why worry about your website speed?
Google has already indicated that site speed, and consequently, page loading time, is one of the factors used by its algorithm to rank pages . “Faster sites not only improve the user experience; data shows that improving site speed also reduces operational costs,” Google’s statement states.
Therefore, if your website speed is slow, this may be negatively affecting cayman islands whatsapp number database on Google's organic search platform and user navigation . This is especially true for mobile browsing, which is on the rise.
What is a slow website?
Imagine a customer visits your website to schedule a medical exam or read informative content with health tips, but the website takes a long time to load. Who has the patience to wait a long time for a website to load? Especially today, when society is increasingly fast-paced and people are always in a rush.
According to a 2018 Google survey , 53% of mobile users will leave a website that takes more than three seconds to load .
The problem is that the same research revealed that the average loading time on mobile devices is 15 seconds . Most websites still fall short when it comes to page loading times. A study conducted by SEMrush , a tool we use here at Wellmaker , revealed that over 82% of websites have performance issues , such as slow page loading speed.
Check out : How to increase brand recognition for your healthcare company
How can I improve my website speed?
All you need to do is understand why your websites are loading slowly and where you can improve to speed things up. There are several tools that help you test your website speed, such as:
Page Speed Insights ;
GTmetrix ;
Pingdom .
These tools provide ratings and indicate issues that can be corrected to make the site more agile. Below are some of the most common recommendations:
Improve server performance
When the website receives a lot of traffic, such as news channels, blogs and e-commerce sites , it is recommended to invest in a server capable of supporting the large number of simultaneous visitors . Having a dedicated server, that is, one that provides the service exclusively to the client, is important, as it has more storage and data processing resources.
See also : 7 effective strategies to generate qualified leads and convert them into loyal customers
Reduce redirects
Having too many redirects can slow down your site. That’s because when you click on a regular mobile link, the server serves up the document found in the link. But a redirect means there’s no document at that link. So the server has to go to the page where the document is and retrieve it. This process can take a few seconds for the correct page to load .
SEO expert Neil Patel , for example, recommends using Varvy’s Redirect Mapper to see how many redirects you have on a page. That way, you can change the ones you don’t need and ensure your site speed is good.
Adjust image sizes
Using images on a website is good because it visually attracts the user and brings SEO benefits. However, you need to be careful not to overdo it. They can be the largest files on a website . One option is to use compressors to reduce the size of the photos. There are image optimization plugins for WordPress, such as Optimus and Tinypng. SEMrush recommends using Tinny PNG . With it, you can upload the images to be compressed/optimized and then download the compressed images to be used or replaced on the website.
Learn more : 4 tips on how to choose the best images for health and wellness content
Minify JavaScript and CSS (Cascading Stylesheets) files
By optimizing your code, you can increase page speed. The SEMrush survey cited above revealed that 68% of websites have unminified JavaScript and CSS files. However, you can simplify this code by removing unnecessary lines , unnecessary comments, and whitespace. These files are written with excess to make future editing easier, but they can be changed.
There are tools that can help with this process, such as YUI Compressor and JSMin. However, it is important to always make a backup before making any major changes, as there is a possibility that your website's theme or some file could be affected.
See also : 8 essential tips to get more followers on Instagram for healthcare companies
Check out : TikTok for healthcare companies: a great opportunity to reach different audiences
Some of these tips are easy to implement, but some require more technical knowledge. If you need help, we have a team that can analyze your site and make the necessary improvements! Contact us !
Want to stay up to date? Visit the Wellmaker blog and read more about marketing and communication in healthcare.
No matter what your goal is with your company's website. Whether it's sales, traffic or leads, having a fast website is essential . Website speed impacts SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the user experience when browsing the website pages, and can make a big difference.
Why worry about your website speed?
Google has already indicated that site speed, and consequently, page loading time, is one of the factors used by its algorithm to rank pages . “Faster sites not only improve the user experience; data shows that improving site speed also reduces operational costs,” Google’s statement states.
Therefore, if your website speed is slow, this may be negatively affecting cayman islands whatsapp number database on Google's organic search platform and user navigation . This is especially true for mobile browsing, which is on the rise.
What is a slow website?
Imagine a customer visits your website to schedule a medical exam or read informative content with health tips, but the website takes a long time to load. Who has the patience to wait a long time for a website to load? Especially today, when society is increasingly fast-paced and people are always in a rush.
According to a 2018 Google survey , 53% of mobile users will leave a website that takes more than three seconds to load .
The problem is that the same research revealed that the average loading time on mobile devices is 15 seconds . Most websites still fall short when it comes to page loading times. A study conducted by SEMrush , a tool we use here at Wellmaker , revealed that over 82% of websites have performance issues , such as slow page loading speed.
Check out : How to increase brand recognition for your healthcare company
How can I improve my website speed?
All you need to do is understand why your websites are loading slowly and where you can improve to speed things up. There are several tools that help you test your website speed, such as:
Page Speed Insights ;
GTmetrix ;
Pingdom .
These tools provide ratings and indicate issues that can be corrected to make the site more agile. Below are some of the most common recommendations:
Improve server performance
When the website receives a lot of traffic, such as news channels, blogs and e-commerce sites , it is recommended to invest in a server capable of supporting the large number of simultaneous visitors . Having a dedicated server, that is, one that provides the service exclusively to the client, is important, as it has more storage and data processing resources.
See also : 7 effective strategies to generate qualified leads and convert them into loyal customers
Reduce redirects
Having too many redirects can slow down your site. That’s because when you click on a regular mobile link, the server serves up the document found in the link. But a redirect means there’s no document at that link. So the server has to go to the page where the document is and retrieve it. This process can take a few seconds for the correct page to load .
SEO expert Neil Patel , for example, recommends using Varvy’s Redirect Mapper to see how many redirects you have on a page. That way, you can change the ones you don’t need and ensure your site speed is good.
Adjust image sizes
Using images on a website is good because it visually attracts the user and brings SEO benefits. However, you need to be careful not to overdo it. They can be the largest files on a website . One option is to use compressors to reduce the size of the photos. There are image optimization plugins for WordPress, such as Optimus and Tinypng. SEMrush recommends using Tinny PNG . With it, you can upload the images to be compressed/optimized and then download the compressed images to be used or replaced on the website.
Learn more : 4 tips on how to choose the best images for health and wellness content
Minify JavaScript and CSS (Cascading Stylesheets) files
By optimizing your code, you can increase page speed. The SEMrush survey cited above revealed that 68% of websites have unminified JavaScript and CSS files. However, you can simplify this code by removing unnecessary lines , unnecessary comments, and whitespace. These files are written with excess to make future editing easier, but they can be changed.
There are tools that can help with this process, such as YUI Compressor and JSMin. However, it is important to always make a backup before making any major changes, as there is a possibility that your website's theme or some file could be affected.
See also : 8 essential tips to get more followers on Instagram for healthcare companies
Check out : TikTok for healthcare companies: a great opportunity to reach different audiences
Some of these tips are easy to implement, but some require more technical knowledge. If you need help, we have a team that can analyze your site and make the necessary improvements! Contact us !
Want to stay up to date? Visit the Wellmaker blog and read more about marketing and communication in healthcare.