Check this out: there are nearly 1.8 billion websites to visit on the web these days. With so many websites, it’s extremely common for many to have slow loading times. For those of you who are asking yourself how to make your website load faster, you’re not alone.
Are you sick and tired of wondering how to make your website faster? If yes, we’ve got your back. Here are 10 top tips for how to make web pages load faster!
1. Look at Your Website’s Current Speed
Want to know how to make pages load faster?
First things first, you should look at your website’s current speed. Not only will this let you see if the changes you make impact your page loading times, but it also helps you to track your improvement.
If you don’t know where to start, there are tons of free tools online that will help you learn how long it takes for your website to load. In addition to this, these easy-to-use tests will give you suggestions on how to improve performance problems too.
2. Optimize Your Images
On top of that, you’ve got to optimize your images on your website to make a run faster. However, all it takes is a simple format change to make your images as small as possible.
For example, GIFs are perfect for pictures with several colors such as logos. Also, JPEG images are ideal for pictures with tons of details and colors, including photographs. As for PNG, this is the best choice if you need transparent, high-quality images.
3. Avoid Scaling Down Images
One of the best ways to figure out how to make websites load faster is to avoid scaling down images at all costs. Don’t use pictures that are bigger than you need, especially because you can set the height and width attributes of these elements in the HTML code.
For instance, if you have a 600 x 600-pixel image as you need a 100 x 100-pixel image, you can easily use an online image editor to reshape your picture as needed. The result is this: a faster page loading time.
4. Optimize and Compress Your Content
Have you optimized and compressed your content yet?
If not, then you should probably know that this can have a major impact on decreasing the loading times for your page. All that you have to do is use HTTP compression to convert all of your info into a single, smaller web file.
Also, you can compress and optimize your CSS and JavaScript files by combining the two. Then, minify the source code and you should be good to go.
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5. Move Stylesheet References to the Top
Raise your hand if you know what a stylesheet reference is. Now that we’ve got that covered, moving it up to the top of your page is a great way to improve your loading time like no other.
This lets your website render pages much more progressively. FYI – it is also “the W3C standard.”
6. Move Script References to the Bottom
In case you didn’t know, browsers are limited to downloading up to two components for each hostname at once.
Are your script references added toward the top of your page?
If yes, then this may explain why everything below the top of the page takes a while to load. To fix this, move script references to the bottom of your HTML page. Better yet, place them right above your closing tag.
7. Place CSS and Javascript Into External Files
Another word of advice is the put your CSS and JavaScript into your external files. That way, your website will be both easier to update and to maintain.
Otherwise, CSS and JavaScript codes that are directly included in your HTML code will increase your HTML document’s size.
8. Reduce HTTP Requests
When visitors take a look at your company or your personal webpage, most of the time they spend waiting for your site to load includes downloading:
- Images
- Stylesheets
- Scripts
Pro tip – minimizing the amount of these requests will help your webpage to load faster than ever. To minimize HTTP requests, you can always use something called “CSS sprites” to combine several different images.
9. Cache Your Website
Ever heard of caching your website? If you are shaking your head right now, then you are already light-years behind the competition. Let us explain.
If your software generates a website dynamically, it doesn’t hurt to create a static cache of your database queries and webpages.
For the uninitiated, this helps to reduce the stress on your computer server. In addition, this will improve the “speed up page rendering times.”
Once this is done, a static version of your webpage will be saved to show users instead of redisplaying a new page each time that it is requested.
For example, those of you who use WordPress can cache webpages with:
- WP Super Cache
- W3 Total Cache
Sounds simple enough to us!
10. Limit 301 Redirects
Lastly, you may want to do your best to limit 301 redirects to make your website faster. Why is this? The answer is simple: every time that this is used, it makes the browser go to a new website, increasing its potential loading time.
Curious about more website solutions? It doesn’t hurt to contact a digital marketing expert first!
Not Sure How to Make Web Pages Load Faster?
Still not sure how to make web pages load faster?
Fortunately for you, our handy guide has everything you need to get the job done.
Want to learn more website tips? Take a look at more of our blog today!
