SEO​ ​and​ ​Page​ ​Speed​ ​-​ ​Five​ ​Easy​ ​Ways​ ​to Improve​ ​Web​ ​Page​ ​Load​ ​Times

Improving​ ​Web​ ​Page​ ​load​ ​times​ ​is​ ​important​ ​to​ ​keep​ ​existing​ ​visitors​ ​on​ ​a​ ​website​ ​as​ ​well​ ​as​ ​to encourage​ ​visitors​ ​to​ ​revisit.​ ​It​ ​is​ ​also​ ​often​ ​mentioned​ ​in​ ​various​ ​Search​ ​Engine​ ​Optimization guidance​ ​that​ ​Search​ ​Engines​ ​may​ ​use​ ​page​ ​load​ ​times​ ​as​ ​part​ ​of​ ​their​ ​ranking​ ​algorithms. Fortunately,​ ​for​ ​most​ ​web​ ​sites,​ ​there​ ​are​ ​a​ ​few​ ​activities​ ​which​ ​may​ ​be​ ​undertaken​ ​which​ ​will greatly​ ​improve​ ​page​ ​load​ ​performance.​ ​Described​ ​below​ ​are​ ​five​ ​factors​ ​which​ ​will​ ​improve page​ ​load​ ​speeds.

1.​ ​Check​ ​that​ ​your​ ​HTML​ ​is​ ​valid Although​ ​many​ ​of​ ​the​ ​latest​ ​generation​ ​web​ ​browsers​ ​are​ ​good​ ​at​ ​providing​ ​accurate workarounds​ ​for​ ​invalid​ ​or​ ​badly​ ​constructed​ ​HTML,​ ​it​ ​still​ ​consumes​ ​time​ ​and​ ​resources​ ​when HTML​ ​is​ ​incorrectly​ ​constructed.​ ​It​ ​is​ ​always​ ​a​ ​good​ ​idea​ ​to​ ​use​ ​a​ ​HTML​ ​validation​ ​utility​ ​on​ ​your web​ ​pages​ ​(use​ ​Search​ ​Engine​ ​to​ ​find​ ​one​ ​of​ ​the​ ​many​ ​free​ ​online​ ​HTML​ ​validators). Please​ ​note​ ​also​ ​that​ ​HTML​ ​as​ ​provided​ ​when​ ​saving​ ​to​ ​HTML​ ​from​ ​some​ ​Microsoft​ ​applications is​ ​NOT​ ​fully​ ​valid​ ​HTML.​ ​If,​ ​for​ ​example,​ ​you​ ​save​ ​a​ ​document​ ​in​ ​Microsoft​ ​Word​ ​2003​ ​using​ ​the 'save​ ​as'​ ​-​ ​'Web​ ​Page'​ ​then​ ​your​ ​HTML​ ​will​ ​be​ ​invalid. 2.​ ​JavaScript There​ ​are​ ​many​ ​guidelines​ ​for​ ​the​ ​correct​ ​formatting​ ​of​ ​JavaScript​ ​to​ ​ensure​ ​optimum​ ​speed. This​ ​recommendation​ ​however​ ​is​ ​concerned​ ​with​ ​where​ ​the​ ​JavaScript​ ​is​ ​placed​ ​within​ ​the​ ​web page​ ​itself. For​ ​many​ ​scripts​ ​it​ ​is​ ​irrelevant​ ​where​ ​on​ ​the​ ​page​ ​they​ ​are​ ​placed.​ ​Placing​ ​the​ ​script​ ​just​ ​before the​ ​closing​ ​body​ ​tag​ ​usually​ ​ensures​ ​faster​ ​page​ ​loading​ ​times.​ ​A​ ​very​ ​common​ ​script​ ​is​ ​the Google​ ​Analytics​ ​script​ ​used​ ​on​ ​millions​ ​of​ ​web​ ​pages.​ ​As​ ​this​ ​script​ ​invokes​ ​JavaScript​ ​from Google​ ​to​ ​track​ ​page​ ​visits​ ​it​ ​is​ ​irrelevant​ ​where​ ​on​ ​the​ ​page​ ​the​ ​script​ ​appears.​ ​By​ ​having​ ​the script​ ​near​ ​the​ ​top​ ​of​ ​the​ ​body​ ​section​ ​means​ ​that​ ​all​ ​visitors​ ​have​ ​to​ ​wait​ ​for​ ​the​ ​script​ ​to​ ​run before​ ​the​ ​full​ ​web​ ​page​ ​is​ ​displayed.​ ​By​ ​placing​ ​the​ ​script​ ​at​ ​the​ ​end​ ​of​ ​the​ ​body​ ​section ensures​ ​that​ ​the​ ​page​ ​loads​ ​and​ ​only​ ​then​ ​does​ ​the​ ​script​ ​run. 3.​ ​Image​ ​Size Always​ ​use​ ​images​ ​with​ ​as​ ​small​ ​a​ ​file​ ​size​ ​as​ ​practicable.​ ​Large​ ​file​ ​sized​ ​images​ ​take​ ​more​ ​time to​ ​load​ ​than​ ​small​ ​ones.​ ​There​ ​are​ ​various​ ​ways​ ​of​ ​reducing​ ​image​ ​file​ ​sizes​ ​including​ ​using different​ ​image​ ​formats​ ​(e.g.​ ​.gif​ ​instead​ ​of​ ​.jpeg)​ ​and​ ​reduced​ ​resolution.​ ​There​ ​are​ ​also​ ​a multitude​ ​of​ ​free​ ​online​ ​image​ ​compressors​ ​and​ ​other​ ​tools.​ ​There​ ​is​ ​of​ ​course​ ​a​ ​trade-off between​ ​file​ ​size​ ​and​ ​image​ ​quality. 4.​ ​Stylesheets​ ​(CSS​ ​Files) There​ ​are​ ​four​ ​guidelines​ ​in​ ​relation​ ​to​ ​Stylesheets​ ​and​ ​page​ ​load​ ​times: CSS​ ​should​ ​be​ ​held​ ​/​ ​defined​ ​in​ ​an​ ​external​ ​file​ ​on​ ​the​ ​local​ ​server. The​ ​external​ ​Stylesheet​ ​should​ ​be​ ​referenced​ ​from​ ​each​ ​web​ ​page. The​ ​link​ ​to​ ​the​ ​CSS​ ​file​ ​from​ ​the​ ​web​ ​pages​ ​should​ ​be​ ​in​ ​the​ ​head​ ​section​ ​of​ ​each​ ​page. If​ ​the​ ​CSS​ ​file​ ​is​ ​large​ ​then​ ​compress​ ​the​ ​CSS​ ​file​ ​with​ ​GZIP​ ​(try​ ​to​ ​avoid​ ​large​ ​CSS​ ​files​ ​where possible). Some​ ​knowledge​ ​of​ ​CSS​ ​is​ ​necessary​ ​in​ ​order​ ​to​ ​use​ ​CSS​ ​most​ ​effectively​ ​and​ ​it​ ​is​ ​highly recommended​ ​to​ ​be​ ​familiar​ ​with​ ​CSS​ ​and​ ​its​ ​usage.

5.​ ​Reduce​ ​HTTP​ ​Requests Reducing​ ​the​ ​number​ ​of​ ​HTTP​ ​requests​ ​reduces​ ​page​ ​load​ ​times.​ ​HTTP​ ​requests​ ​do​ ​not​ ​need​ ​to be​ ​extensively​ ​understood​ ​nor​ ​analyzed​ ​to​ ​perform​ ​some​ ​basic​ ​best​ ​practice​ ​to​ ​reduce​ ​the number​ ​of​ ​requests​ ​from​ ​any​ ​web​ ​page.​ ​To​ ​reduce​ ​the​ ​number​ ​of​ ​HTTP​ ​requests​ ​always​ ​try​ ​to do​ ​the​ ​following;​ ​combine​ ​multiple​ ​images​ ​into​ ​a​ ​singe​ ​image​ ​(although​ ​the​ ​final​ ​image​ ​file​ ​size may​ ​be​ ​as​ ​large​ ​as​ ​the​ ​combined​ ​smaller​ ​files,​ ​the​ ​number​ ​of​ ​HTTP​ ​requests​ ​will​ ​be​ ​reduced), combine​ ​multiple​ ​Stylesheets​ ​into​ ​a​ ​single​ ​file​ ​and​ ​combine​ ​Javascript​ ​or​ ​PHP​ ​into​ ​as​ ​few​ ​files​ ​as possible. Welcome​ ​Faster​ ​Page​ ​Load​ ​Speed Above​ ​are​ ​five​ ​basics​ ​to​ ​improve​ ​page​ ​load​ ​speed​ ​performance.​ ​Load​ ​times​ ​of​ ​pages​ ​are necessary​ ​for​ ​effective​ ​SEO​ ​and​ ​are​ ​basic​ ​best​ ​practice​ ​of​ ​web​ ​page​ ​design​ ​and​ ​development. Recommended​ ​Links https://goo.gl/Qx99EN https://goo.gl/AmuQmV https://goo.gl/hjS5FE https://goo.gl/WqvWKg https://goo.gl/r46SgS https://goo.gl/1bTQUP https://goo.gl/66Qgns https://goo.gl/Ae33S8 https://goo.gl/F3QbL5 https://goo.gl/rX9itU https://goo.gl/hm6SXH https://goo.gl/iKLQPL https://goo.gl/Y8EakM https://goo.gl/tTq7vt https://goo.gl/XYo21U https://goo.gl/op3UDd https://goo.gl/1oZ66Y https://goo.gl/EvHPQJ https://goo.gl/UMrDB1 https://goo.gl/6oeum2 https://goo.gl/wixSni https://goo.gl/AmK1dp https://goo.gl/H4jJsS https://goo.gl/tsyrjX https://goo.gl/BMAaYx https://goo.gl/xcKQDg https://goo.gl/FnfKtj https://goo.gl/zMwuDw

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