Be careful before you start hacking and slashing things from your pages. This tells the browser to wait to load them rather than loading them in the order they appear on the page. This is pretty simple — You can add a bit of extra code to your website that will instruct the browser to either defer or load async or both :.

Nerd Note: Async and defer are not technically the same thing. But, for most of us, the difference is mostly semantics. Nevertheless, feel free to go down the rabbit hole and find out more about the subtle nuances.

If you want an easier way to handle this step, consider using the JetPack Boost plugin for WordPress. JetPack is a free plugin suite that gives you all kinds of tools to optimize the speed and performance of your website. Notably, you can choose to defer loading non-essential JavaScript with a simple click.

The plugin will render your site in the background and show your score, plus options for improvement. To defer non-essential JS, simply click the toggle to enable it. Alternatively, if you have a lot of separate styles for different devices and browsers, you may want to split your stylesheet into multiple files and use a media query import to only load the appropriate styles.

But if your header has a lot of images or you have a video at the top of the page, then it may be worth investigating how to optimize these assets to improve initial load speed. See below for more details on how to approach optimizing.

Same as above. CDNs can help load your whole page faster, which gives a small boost to FCP. See below for more details on using a CDN. If you only paid attention to First Contentful Paint, you may think that all you need to do to crush your PageSpeed Insights score is defer and load all of your resources later to make that top portion of your website load quickly.

First Input Delay is also related to Total Blocking Time TBT and Time to Interactive TTI metrics. In other words, if your code takes a long time to finish loading, it will prevent the user from interacting with the website, and there will be a delay or lag time between when they click to when the action takes place.

First Input Delay is based on real-world user data and Core Web Vitals. In terms of improving the performance of these three metrics, the solutions are also similar but not identical.

You can think of JavaScript like a separate train track for the browser. So the longer it spends reading and executing the JavaScript when the page first loads, the longer the delay will be if the user begins interacting with the page.

One usual suspect for slow input response is that the website is still loading in all kinds of third-party tools, widgets, and apps to your website.

Every time you add things like Facebook, Drift, Intercom, HotJar, or other third-party tools and services to your website, it adds a bit of code that will need to be loaded and rendered on the page.

So if the browser is trying to fetch some JavaScript from a third-party website on a slow server, it could cause significant delays.

And you probably only use a few of them. To get a full list of the third-party JavaScript loading on your page, refer to your PageSpeed Insights report or run a separate Lighthouse report. Now, using this information, you can decide which of these are critical and which can safely be removed.

Looking at the PageSpeed Insights report, you should see a section that references unused JavaScript:. The most common way to speed up load time is to reduce file size. And with JavaScript, there are two main strategies:. Either of these could help make your code more performant.

Largest Contentful Paint LCP is a metric that measures how long it takes for the largest block of content on a page to be visible to the user. Unlike FCP, it looks at the load time for the largest block of image or text on the page regardless of its position or order.

Before you begin working to optimize your LCP, you may want to determine which part of your page is considered the largest block of content. You can do this by using Chrome DevTools in your browser to identify the LCP resource on any specific page.

Removing or deferring render-blocking resources can help the main content load more quickly. But keep in mind that if these resources significantly change the layout or structure of the page, it could actually change which block is considered the largest and slow down LCP rather than improve it!

If you want to use a video for the background, compress it and try to keep the size as low as possible. In case of feature videos, first, upload them to third-party apps like YouTube and then embed them on your site. By doing this, you can leverage videos without affecting the website's speed.

Website navigation is a design feature that allows users to find and access what they want from the website. It can be different pages, links, buttons, etc. Navigation does not directly affect the website speed, but it can lead to additional page loading and poor customer experience.

Read more about enhancing website performance with lazy loading. You can improve the website navigation by organizing the web pages. Also, keep all the Call To Action CTA buttons, menu, and other helpful links clear and accessible to the users. Apart from that, smooth navigation also helps in Search Engine Optimization by making it easy for search engines to crawl and index the pages more effectively, which helps in enhancing the website's performance.

Websites hosted on content management systems like WordPress often use different plugins to add features and functionality to their websites. But along with the features, they also bring additional page weight making your website slow.

The requirements of plugins vary from business to business. But you can check for unwanted plugins and delete them from your website. Consider an email newsletter plugin, for instance. The cache is the subset of data of your website stored in the user's device. This data is pre-loaded and delivered to the user while the remaining content loads.

Caching does not affect the speed directly, but it helps reduce First Contentful Paint FCP by lowering the load on the server. It helps reduce the bounce rate for your website.

You can enable caching through the settings of your CMS and hosting provider. It stores the latest static version of your site and loads it when the user visits the website. Content is the most crucial element of your website, as it helps keep your visitors connected.

But it also contributes to the performance of your website. By optimizing the content of your site, be it a SaaS blog or a Magento store, you can enhance the website speed and conversions, creating a seamless user experience. Firstly, make sure the content on your website is clear and precise.

Hire content writers to guarantee the excellence of your content. Unwanted content might not affect the page speed but can lower your conversion rate. Use simple language and formatting. Moreover, avoid using multiple fonts. They not only increase the loading time but also affect the user experience.

Use minimum fonts that are optimized for page speed. With the majority of the searches being made from mobile devices, focus on mobile responsiveness is a must. You must optimize your website for mobile devices to make sure it provides a smooth user experience for most of your users.

Firstly, website themes count for the majority of the total website size. So if you are about to build a new site or trying to redesign the old one, consider using a light and mobile-friendly theme. However, choosing a simple theme doesn't mean sacrificing the appearance of your website.

With the right themes, you can create sites with better looks and performance. You have to pay more attention to the content placement and layout of your mobile site. During the content development process , make sure that all the elements are clearly visible to the user. And lastly, keep an eye on the speed and performance of your site.

JavaScript is critical to the modern web. It provides powerful functionality, such as drawing graphs and animations, making Ajax calls, and much more. Reducing the amount of JavaScript on a page can improve its performance. One of the biggest challenges website owners face is how to keep their websites running smoothly and efficiently, especially when it comes to mobile performance.

To keep up, website owners need to optimize their websites for mobile performance and avoid making their users wait longer than they have to.

Instead of designing your website with a desktop browser in mind, make sure your website is mobile first. Having a fast website has never been more imperative than it is today.

Users want websites to be fast, if you fail to reach their expectations you will risk losing a lot of website traffic and, ultimately you lose your loyal users or your revenue.

Wondering what you can do to get your online business ready for the race? The client is a world-class provider of best of breed IT hardware, software, services, and security….

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Organizational Email. Connect With Us. Content Hub. Case Studies News Blogs. Get in Touch. Our Presence. If you want to better your website performance and loading speed with improved user-friendliness for the users, you should look at what Google recommends … There may be plenty of reasons for your poor website performance, consider: Heavy HTML, CSS, JAVA codes.

Unoptimized images or videos or video links in your content. Redirects Improper cache handling Server hosting Increased blocking time More time to interact — FCP, FID, LCP Unused or hulking Plugins There are tools available to measure website issues, further grades are provided by the tools according to the performance, with the list of issues holding your web application from progressing.

Monitor Errors errors, indicating that a page is not found, arise when users attempt to reach a deleted or relocated page. Enable Leverage browser caching The main cause why browser caching is essential is because it cut down the load on your web server, which ultimately reduces the load time of the website for your users with increased page speed.

Clean up excess plugins Excess of plugins can make your activity harder and more confounded than it should be. Reduce HTTP Requests The more HTTP requests , the more extended time to load.

Minify JavaScript and CSS Files Minification is the way toward limiting code and increase in your web pages and content files.

Optimize Your Images The significance of images in connecting clients to your items has been proven. Change Your Website Theme The subject of your site can likewise influence page load speed.

Fix Broken Links The google rankings are based on hyperlinks. Reduce Redirects Redirecting visitors away from a page, rather than keeping them on that page, can also slow down page load times. Use a Reliable CMS A website is the focal point of your entire internet marketing strategy and your CMS is the core of your website.

Optimize Your Database Optimizing your MySQL database tables is one method for making enhancements to your website. Remove Render Blocking JavaScript JavaScript is critical to the modern web. Write Mobile First Code One of the biggest challenges website owners face is how to keep their websites running smoothly and efficiently, especially when it comes to mobile performance.

Conclusion: Having a fast website has never been more imperative than it is today.

Measure website performance by analyzing load times, server response times, and optimizing resource sizes. Utilize tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and WebPageTest to identify and address issues.

A good website performance score is typically 90 or above on tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. It reflects optimized load times, efficient rendering, and responsive server interactions. Website performance optimization involves improving site speed, ensuring server efficiency, and enhancing user experience by minimizing load times, compressing files, optimizing images, and implementing caching solutions.

When your browser fetches data from a server it does so using HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol. In general the more HTTP requests your web page makes the slower it will load.

The number of requests a particular website must make varies greatly from site to site. Running a site speed test will tell you how many requests were needed in order to generate a particular page. Here is an example of a common additional HTTP that can be removed.

We have seen a lot of people enable remarketing and advertising in Google Analytics, and yet they don't actually use this function.

Typically users have a tendency to click enable on everything. If you are not using these features you can disable this by turning off "Remarketing" and "Advertising Reporting Features" under "Data Collection" in your Google Analytics settings.

After disabling this you will no longer have that 2nd HTTP request and your main script will no longer have a redirect. This is just one example of an HTTP request cleanup.

Another example of an HTTP request cleanup is if your running WordPress, by default, it includes an additional JavaScript file wp-emoji-release. Emojis are great and all, but are they really needed?

It is worth the extra weight and time from the additional JavaScript file? Probably not. You can disable Emojis in WordPress by adding the following code to your your functions.

php file. Or you can also use the free Disable Emojis plugin. Don't let things generate requests if they aren't being used! Also don't just optimize your homepage, the rest of your site deserves attention too. Minification of resources means removing unnecessary characters from your HTML, JavaScript, and CSS that are not required to load, such as:.

This speeds up your load times as it reduces the amount of code that has to be requested from the server. If you are using WordPress you can also minify your CSS and JavaScript with the Cache Enabler plugin.

When it comes to analyzing the speed of your web pages you always need to take into consideration what might be blocking the DOM , causing delays in your page load times. These are also referred to as render blocking resources , such as HTML, CSS this can include web fonts , and JavaScript.

Here are a few recommendations on how to prevent your CSS and JavaScript from blocking the DOM by optimizing your critical rendering path. When it comes to JavaScript there are some best practices to always keep in mind. Async allows the script to be downloaded in the background without blocking.

Then, the moment it finishes downloading, rendering is blocked and that script executes. Render resumes when the script has executed. Your other option is to defer JavaScript.

This directive does the same thing as async, except it guarantees that scripts execute in the order they were specified on the page. Patrick Sexton has a good example of how to defer loading of JavaScript properly.

If you are not familiar with a content delivery network CDN we highly recommend you read our complete CDN guide. Besides speeding up the delivery of your assets around the globe a CDN also can dramatically decrease your latency. We ran a test to show you the difference in latency times with and without a CDN implemented.

This is simply from a connectivity perspective. We used KeyCDN's ping test tool which conveniently allows us to simultaneously test from multiple locations. And here are the results between the two. See the full details of our website latency test.

You can implement a CDN on almost any platform that exists as KeyCDN has over 25 different integrations. Here is a quick list of our integration guides. Time to first byte TTFB is the measurement of the responsiveness of a web server. Basically it is the time it takes your browser to start receiving information after it has requested it from the server.

A website's TTFB is calculated as:. By using a CDN, a fast web host, and a reliable DNS provider you can dramatically reduce your overall TTFB. Read more about time to first byte and time to last byte. Redirects are performance killers. Avoid them whenever possible.

A redirect will generate additional round trip times RTT and therefore quickly doubles the time that is required to load the initial HTML document before the browser even starts to load other assets.

Leveraging the browser cache is crucial for assets that are rarely changing. It is recommended to have a max-age of 7 days in such cases. There are different types of HTTP headers such as:. Learn more about different control mechanisms in our A Guide to HTTP Cache Headers article.

One of the most important HTTP cache headers is probably Cache-Control which is a header comprised of a set of directives that allow you define when and how a response should be cached and for how long.

HTTP caching occurs when a browser stores copies of resources for faster access. This can be used with your HTTPS implementation. See our full guide on how to use the Cache-Control header directives. If you are using KeyCDN you can add or modify the Expires and Cache-Control response header fields that are sent to the client.

For example, when looking at the list below, you would prioritize reducing main-thread work — the time spent parsing, compiling and executing JS — over avoiding large layout shifts. It can give users faster-loading websites that respond more efficiently to user interactions, which helps your business boost user satisfaction and search engine rankings.

As noted above, your hosting provider could be a potential source of speed problems. While several factors could contribute to speed issues, including the geographical location of your provider, their physical infrastructure and the overall bandwidth of their network connection, the type of web hosting your website is using can also impact performance.

When all data required to fully load your site is stored in one place, initial and ongoing load times suffer. This issue will only heighten as internet and data service providers continue to experience dramatic growth in internet traffic worldwide.

Content delivery networks CDNs can help. They use multiple servers to store replications of your content across multiple locations. When users visit your site, the CDN chooses the server or servers closest to their physical location to optimize content delivery. Image Source. CDNs are becoming increasingly popular.

According to the HTTP Archive , the median weight of images on a web page on desktop is over 1, KB! PNG and. TinyPG is just one example.

Instead of using one of the image formats above and running them through an image compression tool, you could use the WebP format. This format provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images.

The problem? More redirects mean more load on the server, which can increase loading time. As your site grows, these HTTP requests start to stack up and eventually create a noticeable delay between user click-throughs and actual page loading.

The good news is that many of the strategies in this guide, like using a CDN and minifying CSS and JS files, can help limit the number of HTTP requests you site makes.

Learn more about reducing your website's HTTP requests. The more you can reduce file sizes without compromising quality, the better your website performance. One of the most robust and reliable compression frameworks is Gzip, but other methods can also deliver reduced file sizes without impacting the user experience.

If your CMS doesn't offer this feature, then consider installing a caching plugin. The SiteGround Optimizer plugin is a great choice for an all-in-one optimization plugin, offering plenty of features for caching, image compression, frontend optimizations, and other features that can significantly speed up any WordPress website.

It's free and easy to use, and comes packed with premium features such as CSS, JavaScript and HTML minificaiton, GZIP compression, and several options for caching.

Solve for errors by running free, external tools to track down outcomes and remove dead links. According to data from Statista , the number of mobile internet users in the United States in amounted to That number is expected to grow to Not only are more people using mobile devices to access the internet — more people are using it as their preferred device type.

According to data from a HubSpot survey of over web traffic analysts in the U. As more users switch to mobile devices as their primary browsing and shopping mediums, speedy mobile sites are essential. A website builder can be a great option for quickly building and customizing a site.

To maintain user trust and stay ahead of competitors, focus on improving website performance to deliver experiences visitors expect. Performance optimization helps you retain customers and boost your reputation by increasing site efficiency and reducing user frustration.

Optimal website performance:. Fast loading speeds and response times enhance customer satisfaction by ensuring visitors can access and engage with content quickly, reducing wait times and frustration.

When a website loads quickly, it signals reliability and professionalism, showing users you respect their time. Fast-loading websites keep visitors engaged and inclined to continue exploring. To combat high bounce rates, prioritize essential content to appear above the fold to capture visitor attention and encourage further engagement, guiding visitors deeper into your site.

To gauge the effectiveness of these adjustments, regularly review bounce rate metrics on Google Analytics before and after implementing them and refine your strategies accordingly. Websites that appear higher on search results have more visibility, translating to increased clicks and organic traffic.

Smooth and snappy site experiences prompt users to take desired actions, such as making a purchase or submitting a form, by minimizing distractions and eliminating navigation barriers. You can also optimize checkout pages and use browser caching to accelerate loading.

Here are a few factors to consider:. A server's hardware and location directly determine its performance. Commercial servers, designed to handle high demand, often provide more reliability and uptime than DIY hosting options, unrestricted by weak hardware.

Opting for servers closer to most of your users can also drastically reduce latency, delivering smoother and faster browsing experiences. These servers also improve site responsiveness, making your site more user-friendly. Internet connections vary depending on user location.

While you can't control internet speeds, you can use tools like Content Delivery Networks CDNs to deliver content faster, storing copies of your site's resources on servers closer to your users to reduce the distance it travels. Optimizing content delivery for faster access speeds up page load times, reducing user frustration and improving the user experience.

Bloated code, such as redundant CSS styles, excessive JavaScript libraries, and improperly structured HTML, can bog down page speeds. The more unnecessary or heavy elements servers and browsers need to process, the slower they respond to user requests. Optimizing your code not only hastens page load times but also delivers smoother and more responsive user experiences, keeping users on your site longer and leading to better engagement rates.

Each script requires browsers to fetch, download, and execute additional resources, slowing load time. Large, uncompressed images can significantly reduce page load speeds by requiring servers to transfer more data to browsers.

When a user visits a web page, the browser requests and downloads all the content, including images, from the server. The larger the file size, the more time browsers need to download and render them. You can use software such as Adobe Photoshop and TinyPNG to optimize image file sizes to compress images without compromising quality.

You can also use WebP images instead of PNGs and JPEGs to further reduce file sizes. When browsers request resources from servers via HTTP requests , multiple stages in the process can introduce latency.

You can streamline this loading process by minifying HTTP requests through tools like cssnano for CSS and UglifyJS for JavaScript. When visitors visit websites and download assets such as images and files, browsers temporarily save these resources locally in their cache. When visitors return to the site, browsers use these saved assets instead of redownloading them for faster loading and response times.

Content management systems CMS like Webflow enable custom cache duration settings, letting you strike a balance between quick load times and delivering fresh content. Longer cache durations generally offer faster load times but delay displaying updated content to users.

Regularly review and fine-tune these settings to deliver optimal browsing experiences and ensure visitors receive updated content promptly. Content Delivery Networks CDN spread content across global servers to provide faster delivery to website visitors.

By serving content from the nearest server to a user, CDNs reduce latency and speed up access. Streaming companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video often use CDN to rapidly deliver shows and movies worldwide.

Reliable providers host your website on high-performance servers optimized for speed, uptime, and security. These providers invest in infrastructure and technologies that reduce server response times, handle high traffic efficiently, and prioritize content delivery, leading to faster website loading and smoother user experiences.

By implementing best practices and using the right resources in your design process , you can provide visitors with a smooth and speedy user experience that meets their preferences. Webflow has many effective plugins and tools to help you measure website performance and make improvements.

By implementing best practices from Webflow University and utilizing the right resources in your design process, you provide visitors with smooth, speedy user experiences that keep them returning for more.

Get the best, coolest, and latest in design and no-code delivered to your inbox each week. Discover the advantages of various website scaling approaches and explore techniques for effective load management to accommodate more visitors.

Here are seven of the best website performance test tools you need to check out. Use these 8 proven strategies to ensure your Webflow site performance remains top notch. Check out our tips and strategies. Learn how to keep visitors from leaving your website. Discover effective methods to reduce bounce rates and encourage users to explore your content.

Heatmaps allow you to analyze user behavior and create reports to use that data to improve your website. Try Webflow for as long as you like with our free Starter plan.

Purchase a paid Site plan to publish, host, and unlock additional features. Skip to main content Webflow. Interaction to Next Paint INP becomes a Core Web Vital on March Start making your websites more responsive to user input today. Learn how. Fast load times Techniques for improving site performance.

Introduction Why does speed matter? What is speed? How to measure speed? How to stay fast? Core Web Vitals Web Vitals.

User-centric performance metrics. Defining the Core Web Vitals metrics thresholds. Largest Contentful Paint LCP. Cumulative Layout Shift CLS. First Input Delay FID.

Interaction to Next Paint INP. Optimize Largest Contentful Paint. Optimize Cumulative Layout Shift. Optimize First Input Delay.

Optimize Interaction to Next Paint. Core Web Vitals workflows with Google tools. Optimizing Core Web Vitals for business decision makers. Measure performance in the field Using the Chrome UX Report to look at performance in the field.

Why lab and field data can be different and what to do about it. Why is CrUX data different from my RUM data? Optimize your resource delivery Optimize Time to First Byte. Content delivery networks CDNs. Prioritize resources.

Preload critical assets to improve loading speed. Establish network connections early to improve perceived page speed. Prefetch resources to speed up future navigations. Fast playback with audio and video preload.

Adaptive serving based on network quality. Optimize your images Choose the right image format. Choose the correct level of compression. Use Imagemin to compress images. Replace animated GIFs with video for faster page loads.

Serve responsive images. Serve images with correct dimensions. Use WebP images. Use image CDNs to optimize images. Lazy-load images and video Use lazy loading to improve loading speed.