Google takes page speed and user experience seriously and so should content marketers. But of course, in the long term, Google will want to show its users not just well-optimized pages but fast pages that load well on their devices. Enable compression Logically, content compression shortens the time it takes to load your page as well as improves rendering time. It’s only right to cache resources (e.g., images) to be reused in the future. You will improve your site’s loading speed as well as its performance. Optimize images This is one of the most if not the most important activity on the list. However, there’s no single formula for image optimization, so experiment with your images to figure out your optimal settings to make them “lighter” and maintain quality at the same time. Optimize CSS delivery The browser renders your page only after processing all CSS files. The more stops it makes, the more time it takes to render a page. Conclusion Now that Google has set a course for providing faster user experience and evaluates sites according to real-world measurements, improving page speed should be your primary focus.
You know audiences now are used to receiving information almost at the speed of light. In retail, for instance, a one-second delay in mobile load time can cost up to a 20% decrease in conversions.
More than that, not so long ago, Google rocked the online world with its mobile page speed update, which officially made page speed a ranking factor for mobile devices. Google takes page speed and user experience seriously and so should content marketers.
Even if you can boast of impeccable content marketing skills and strategy, a slow-loading blog with poor user experience can cost you a fortune. In fact, according to the research conducted by DoubleClick, publishers whose websites loaded within five seconds earned twice as much ad revenue as those that loaded within 19 seconds.
Without further ado, let’s get down to some practical advice on how to speed up your website to make Google and your visitors happy.
1. Rethink your speed statistics
Google recently changed the way it evaluates websites’ speed. It now extracts data from the Chrome User Experience (CrUX) Report, which is a public dataset of major user experience metrics for sites all over the web. CrUX is based on real-world measurements and collects data concerning the way users interact with your site, how long it takes your page to fully load, types of devices your visitors use, etc.
Now the way Google calculates speed depends on the internet connection of your users as well as on devices they use. It might happen that Google will consider your perfectly optimized site slow due to poor Wi-Fi or devices your visitors use to reach your website.
2. Identify areas of improvement with PageSpeed Insights
The next step is identifying your website’s weak spots. The PageSpeed Insights tool is perfect for that. It gives you an idea of how well your page performs according to the CrUX report and offers performance optimization advice.
Data from CrUX can be found under the speed tab in PageSpeed Insights. When it comes to optimization score, it’s based on a familiar set of parameters that show how well your site is optimized for speed.
Though PageSpeed Insights now supplies two parameters, our experiments before and after Google’s mobile speed update revealed that optimization score rules still rank in the first place. Surprisingly, page speed has low correlation with pages’ positions in the SERPs.
But of course, in the long term, Google will want to show its users not just well-optimized pages but fast pages that load well on their devices. At the end of the day, page speed still matters, which, in turn, depends on technical optimization.
3. Work on your optimization score
If your site is considered “fast” speed-wise and has a high optimization score (over 80 points), it’s good as is. But if the scores don’t reflect those top results, first take steps to improve the optimization score. After all, optimization still influences rankings the most and is easier to improve because you control the technical criteria that influence optimization score.
All in all, there are nine Google-approved ways for optimization improvement. Luckily, plenty of tools like WebSite Auditor (full disclosure: I work for the company), SE Ranking, or SEO Site Checkup help developers to spot and…
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