Optimizing website performance: technical best practices
Why is website performance important?
Nowadays, a fast and efficient website is a decisive factor for business success. Users expect instant access to content. They are more likely to leave a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load. Studies show that every additional second of loading time significantly reduces the conversion rate. This means less sales and less customer loyalty.
For this reason, search engines reward fast websites with higher rankings. Google, for example, takes loading time into account as a ranking factor, meaning that an optimized website also has a better chance of appearing high up in the search results. Companies should therefore keep an eye on the technical aspects of their website in addition to the aesthetic and content aspects. The key term is “technical SEO”.
GTmetrix Grade A: An indicator of top performance
GTmetrix is a popular tool for analyzing and optimizing website performance. A Grade A rating in GTmetrix indicates that the website is performing excellently in terms of load time and technical SEO. Here are some best practices to achieve this rating:
1. Image optimization
Images make up the majority of content on most websites and can have a significant impact on load time. It is important to compress images without compromising quality. Tools such as TinyPNG or ImageOptim help to reduce the file size. In addition, modern formats such as WebP should be used, which offer better compression than traditional formats such as JPEG or PNG.
2. Set up caching
Caching stores frequently used data temporarily so that it can be retrieved more quickly. By setting up browser caching and server-side caching, the loading time can be drastically reduced. Plugins such as W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache for WordPress make implementation easier.
3. Use a content delivery network (CDN)
A CDN distributes the content of your website to several servers worldwide. This means that the data is delivered from a server that is geographically closer to the user, which shortens the loading time. Popular CDNs are Cloudflare, Amazon CloudFront and Akamai.
4. Minification of CSS, JavaScript and HTML
Removing unnecessary whitespace, comments and other redundant elements in CSS, JavaScript and HTML files can reduce file size and improve loading speed. Tools such as Minify, UglifyJS and the integrated functions of many modern build tools such as Webpack help with minification.
5. Implement lazy loading
Lazy loading means that images and other media are only loaded when they actually appear in the user’s field of vision. This shortens the initial loading time of the page. This can be easily achieved with the HTML attribute loading=”lazy” or with JavaScript solutions such as Intersection Observer.
6. Server optimization
A fast server is the basis for a high-performance website. Switching to a high-performance hosting provider and optimizing the server configuration, such as using HTTP/2 or even HTTP/3, can significantly improve the loading time. The use of modern web servers such as Nginx or LiteSpeed also offers advantages over traditional servers such as Apache.
7. Reduction of HTTP requests
Every resource on your website, be it an image, a script or a CSS file, requires an HTTP request. The more requests that need to be made, the slower the page will load. Combining CSS and JavaScript files and using CSS sprites for images can reduce the number of requests.
8. Technical SEO
In addition to loading time, there are other technical aspects that are important for SEO. These include a clean URL structure, the use of canonical tags, the implementation of structured data (schema markup) and a good mobile user experience. The sitemap and robots.txt file should also be configured correctly to make the work of search engine crawlers easier.
Conclusion
Optimizing website performance is an ongoing process that requires technical knowledge and continuous monitoring. By implementing the above best practices, loading time can be reduced and the user experience improved. A GTmetrix Grade A is a good target to ensure that the website performs optimally for both users and search engines.
Every website developed by borntocreate is delivered to clients with GTmetrix Grade A to ensure that it is not only aesthetically but also technically up to date for years to come.
