Technical SEO is a complex and often misunderstood topic in the SEO world. In its simplest form, technical SEO is the practice of improving the technical aspects of a website to make it more visible and accessible to search engines. This includes everything from site architecture to site speed and more.
While there are many factors that contribute to good technical SEO, in this blog post, we will focus on website speed. We’ll discuss why page speed is important for SEO and how you can improve it.
Technical SEO Checklist
- Use a content delivery network (CDN).
- Optimize your images.
- Minimize HTTP requests.
- Use caching techniques.
- Defer JavaScript loading.
- Reduce the number of plugins you use on your website.
- Take advantage of browser caching.
- Minify your CSS and JavaScript files.
- Optimize server response time
- Use a faster web host
The Importance of Website Speed for Technical SEO
Websites are getting larger and more complex. In addition, we now expect sites to load on all devices, from desktop computers to tablets and smartphones. With all of these factors working against website speed, it's more important than ever to ensure that your site loads quickly.
There are a number of reasons why website speed is important for technical SEO.
First, fast loading pages improve the user experience. Users are impatient and if your pages take too long to load, they will simply click away to another site.
In addition, search engines like Google consider page speed when determining ranking. So if you want your site to rank well in search results, you need to make sure it loads quickly.
Finally, website speed is important for conversion rates. If a user has to wait too long for a page to load, they are likely to give up and go elsewhere.
By ensuring that your site loads quickly, you can keep users on your site and increase the chances that they will convert into customers or clients.
How to Improve Website Speed
There are a number of ways to improve website speed for superior technical SEO. Here are some key tips:
1. Use a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN can help deliver your content faster by caching it at locations around the world. This means that when a user requests a page, the content is fetched from the nearest server rather than from your origin server, which can be located far away.
2. Optimize your images. Images can often be the largest files on a page, and thus take longer to load. By optimizing your images - including using the right file format, compressing them, and using responsive images - you can decrease their file size without sacrificing quality, and improve website speed as a result.
3. Minimize HTTP requests. Every time a browser fetches a file from a server (an HTML page, an image, etc.), it creates an HTTP request. The more files there are on a page, the more requests are created, and thus the longer it takes for the page to load. You can minimize HTTP requests by reducing the number of files on your pages, using CSS sprites or inline images, and combining multiple JavaScript files into one.
4. Use Ajax loading for dynamic content. If you have content that needs to be updated regularly (e.g., news articles), consider using Ajax loading instead of traditional full-page reloads. This will allow only the new content to be loaded rather than reloading the entire page, which can help improve website speed.
5. Defer JavaScript loading. If you have JavaScript code that is not needed to render the initial page, you can defer its loading until after the page has finished loading. This will help improve website speed by reducing the amount of code that needs to be downloaded and parsed before the page can be displayed.
6. Minimize the use of plugins. If you are using a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla!, be aware that plugins can often add significant code to your pages and slow down your site. Minimize the use of plugins, and only use those that are absolutely necessary.
7. Use browser caching. When a user visits your site, their browser will download all of the files it needs to display the page (HTML, images, CSS, JavaScript, etc.). If the user visits your site again, the browser can fetch these files from its cache rather than having to download them again from the server. This can help improve website speed by reducing the amount of data that needs to be transferred.
8. Enable compression. Gzip is a type of compression that can significantly reduce the size of your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. This will help improve website speed by reducing the amount of data that needs to be transferred.
9. Optimize your server response time. The time it takes for your server to respond to a request from a browser can have a significant impact on website speed. You can optimize your server response time by using a caching plugin, optimizing your database, and using a content delivery network (CDN).
10. Use a faster hosting provider. The speed of your hosting provider can have a significant impact on website speed. If you are not satisfied with the speed of your current provider, consider switching to a faster one.
Tools to Measure Website Speed
There are a variety of tools available to measure website speed. Here are some of the most popular:
WebPageTest
WebPageTest is a free online tool that gives you detailed performance analysis for your website. It runs tests from multiple locations and browsers, and provides a comprehensive report of your page load times, including waterfall charts and video footage.
Pingdom
Pingdom is another popular website speed testing tool. It offers a free basic plan that allows you to test your site's speed from multiple locations around the globe. Pingdom also provides detailed reports on your page load times, including recommendations for improving speed.
GTmetrix
GTmetrix is a free tool that analyzes your website's speed and provides recommendations on how to improve it. It also generates waterfall charts so you can see where bottlenecks are occurring.
Google PageSpeed Insights
Google PageSpeed Insights is a free tool provided by Google that gives you insights into how well your website loads on desktop and mobile devices. It also provides recommendations on how to improve your website's speed.
Fast Mobile-Friendly Websites
In order to improve website speed for superior technical SEO, it is important to have a fast mobile-friendly website. This means that the website should load quickly on mobile devices and be easy to navigate.
There are a few things that can be done to make a website more mobile-friendly:
Use Responsive Design
This means that the website will adjust to fit any screen size, making it easy to view on any device.
Optimize images
Images can take up a lot of space and cause a website to load slowly. Make sure to optimize images for the web to reduce file size without compromising quality.
Minimize HTTP Requests
Every time a browser has to request information from a server, it takes time. Minimizing HTTP requests can help speed up a website.
Use Caching
Caching helps store frequently accessed information so that it doesn’t have to be loaded from the server each time someone visits the website. This can greatly improve website speed.
Use AMP Pages for Blog Posts and News Articles
AMP pages are pages that are designed for mobile devices and load very quickly. They are often used for blog posts and news articles since they are usually shorter pieces of content that people want to be able to read quickly
By following these tips, you can ensure that your website is fast and mobile-friendly, giving you an advantage in the world of SEO.
Fully-Managed Technical SEO Services
Slow website speed is a major problem for many businesses, as it can negatively impact both your search engine ranking and your conversion rate. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to improve your website speed. Here are just a few of the technical SEO services we offer at our agency:
- Small business web hosting
- Site audits to identify potential speed issues
- Optimization of images, CSS, and JavaScript
- Minification of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Leverage browser caching
- Reduce server response time
- Enable compression
By implementing these technical SEO solutions, you can greatly improve your website speed and give yourself a competitive edge in the search engine results pages. Contact us today to learn more about our technical SEO services.