Google PageSpeed Optimization

There is a myth that WordPress websites are slow. However, it is not. Actually, WordPress websites are fast, but they can be slow due to such factors:

• Images. Undoubtedly, users like high-quality images more than blurry ones. However, an incorrectly selected image format or too large a file size slows down the site, takes a long time to load, and annoys customers.
• Dirty code. Code that has a lot of extra characters, spaces, comments, and other unnecessary elements is considered dirty. This syntax is difficult to index, and therefore the page loads slowly.
• Builders. Elementor, WPbakery and other builders complicate the structure of the site code. The syntax becomes difficult to read for browsers, as a result, Google PageSpeed ​​falls.
• Complex headers structure. In order for search engines to quickly index content, the site must have a clear hierarchy of headings. Our WordPress developers can help build a clear structure.
• Old code, theme, WordPress versions. Updated versions of themes, code and WordPress are faster. If the site uses older versions, it is worth updating them to increase the page speed.
• Bad sitemap. If the sitemap is configured incorrectly, it is difficult for search engines to search and index the pages of the site. This results in a delay when opening the site.
• Bad server. If the server performance is not enough, the page speed of the site will be low. If the problem of poor download speed is only in the server, you should choose a different plan or change the service provider.
• Lots of extra data. If the WordPress database is full of unnecessary information that is not used, it can negatively impact the site’s performance.
• Tons of plugins. If unnecessary plugins are introduced into the site and are not used, they harm the loading speed.

These are just some possible reasons for the site’s slow loading. If you want to check the code for cleanliness as part of the WordPress Pagespeed optimization, write to us. Experienced developers will evaluate the service’s cost, deadlines, and test your site’s code. If problems are identified, they fix them to improve site performance.

We approach the optimization of WordPress websites in a complex way, taking into account their features. So, next, we want to tell you how our team solves different website performance problems.

CSS — the styles used on the site. Consider how the code slows down the page and why CSS optimization is important:

• CSS can stop HTML parsing. During CSS parsing, it can block other resources from loading, including JS functions. In fact, you probably won’t be able to interact with the page at all.
• CSS can render a block – the first page pixel won’t appear until all the CSS has been analyzed.

CSS is important for the page loading speed. Optimization includes removing unused styles, consolidating CSS files, and minifying. CSS minification includes removing unnecessary characters, spaces, and other elements. These actions allow you to reduce the number of requests to the server, and the load on it and optimize the site’s performance.

A large number of heavy JavaScript files leads to website slowdown. Optimization is aimed at reducing their size and number. It usually includes minification, file concatenation, and lazy or asynchronous script loading.

In addition, a large number of heavy JavaScript files negatively impacts search engine rankings. That’s why JS minification & optimization are vital for your web page. As a result, you get a WordPress website with a high loading speed.

Since pictures are one of the most common speed loss problems, they need to be given special attention. Our developers optimize images via such methods:

• reducing the file size via WordPress image compression;
• changing the format to a more efficient format (for example, WebP is popular);
• serve images through a CDN (Content Delivery Network);
• using lazy loading technology.

The latter method allows images to be loaded only when they are in the user’s field of vision. Image optimization can significantly increase page speed and improve user experience.

Caching is storing a version of your WordPress website as static files. Such files load much faster than newly generated pages. Thanks to caching, you can significantly optimize your WordPress site’s page speed. There are 4 caching methods:

• WP Page caching. All page data is saved as a static HTML file. Thanks to this, when re-opening the site, the user does not have to wait long for the page to load. This increases the site loading speed, and hence the user experience.
• Object caching. In this case, the page is not saved completely, but only resource-intensive frequently used objects. For example, pictures, videos, catalogs, and other website parts.
• Database caching. It is needed to save the database query results to reduce the queries required to create a page.
• Browser caching. These are copies of pages, pictures, videos and other materials that the user viewed using the browser. The cache helps save time on opening pages: if the page the user is viewing is already in the cache, the browser will instantly open it. This type of caching includes CSS caching, font caching, etc.

Our WordPress website developers choose the caching type that suits your web page.

CDN is a system of servers distributed around the world. They work together to deliver your site’s content to users as quickly as possible. For this, a server is used, which is located as close as possible to the user. A CDN can help fix download speed issues related to users’ geographic location.

The technique involves removing unnecessary characters and comments, thereby reducing the file size. This allows us to optimize Google pagespeed. HTML minification includes such methods:

• Removing white spaces and line breaks. Extra spaces, tabs, and line breaks are removed from the HTML code, as they are not necessary for rendering the page in a browser.
• Shortening attribute names. HTML attribute names can be shortened without affecting the functionality. For example, changing class to cl or id to i.
• Shortening attribute value. If possible, attribute values can be shortened. For example, reducing “https://example.com” to “//example.com”.
• Removing comments. HTML comments are often used for developer documentation but aren’t necessary for rendering. Removing them can reduce file size.
• Inline CSS and JavaScript. Combining inline CSS and JavaScript code into single lines can help reduce the number of HTTP requests made by the browser.
• Optimizing attribute values: Removing quotes around attribute values that don’t require them, like boolean attributes (checked, disabled, etc.), can reduce file size.

Overusing plugins or using plugins that are not configured properly can slow down your site significantly. Additionally, some plugins can interfere with system updates. This leads to a worse user experience and a slower site.

Our WordPress website developers check the relevance of plugins, their need to cover functionality, versions, etc. If necessary, we remove unnecessary tools as part of Google PageSpeed ​​Optimization.

HTTP/2 is faster than HTTP/1.1, so switching to HTTP/2 can improve your site’s speed. HTTP/2 uses a binary protocol instead of the text-based protocol of HTTP/1.1. This makes communication between the server and the browser more efficient, as binary data can be parsed and processed faster.

HTTP/2 uses header compression techniques that significantly reduce the overhead associated with sending headers, which can make up a considerable portion of the data sent in each request. By migrating to HTTP/2 and following best practices, you can significantly enhance your website’s pagespeed and provide a faster and smoother browsing experience for your users.

This is a Google initiative that aims to speed up mobile web pages. AMP pages have simplified HTML/CSS and limit the use of JavaScript, making them load faster on mobile devices.

By following the principles and guidelines of the AMP project, we can create mobile-optimized pages that load quickly and provide a smooth user experience. Keep in mind that AMP may not be suitable for all types of content or websites, so it’s essential to assess whether it aligns with your goals and requirements.

Since a website’s performance is degraded if the database is full of unused information, our developers use different methods and plugins for optimization. This allows you to improve the database efficiency and increase the site’s speed. Except for this, our developers provide Server and Time To First Byte (TTFB) optimizations. Optimizing your server configuration (such as updating PHP to the latest version, configuring HTTP/2, and enabling the gzip module) can help increase your site’s responsiveness. Fixing TTFB issues can improve site’s loading speed.

Before we start optimizing, we check the site for problems. Without preliminary testing, it is impossible to identify the low speed causes. In our company, the analysis process includes the use of such tools:

This is a web service that allows you to analyze the speed of loading a site and get recommendations for optimization. With the help of GTmetrix, our webmasters get different speed indicators and analyze them. On this basis, they identify the main slowing factors.

GTmetrix page speed analyzer shows such metrics as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), First Contentful Paint (FCP), etc. They play an important role in user experience and website promotion in search engines.

The service allows us to evaluate the site loading speed in points and get a report on the site loading on mobile devices and computers. Further, experts offer optimization options if the site has not passed the speed test.

It is important to consider Google PageSpeed ​​Insights metrics if you want your site to rank higher in search results. If a service suggests improvements, it’s important to follow the recommendations. The specialists of our WordPress development company can help with web page optimization.

We use this tool to evaluate how a site is optimized for search engines, compatible with web applications and accessible to users. If there are problems on these aspects, we will offer an effective solution.

In parallel, we evaluate the state of the site, carry out basic optimization, and consider all the details. If you want to know the cost of site speed optimization, fill out the form or write to us.

GTmetrix, Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights

Core Web Vitals and Google PageSpeed Insights Scores play a great role in user experience and search engine ranking. It is important to analyze the metrics in time and optimize them so that the site remains relevant for users and search engines. Next, let’s talk about core web vitals in more detail.

LCP measures how long it takes for the largest “content element” on a site to become visible in your visitor’s viewport. This metric is 25% of the performance estimate. There are 4 LCP thresholds:

• 1200 milliseconds or less;
• between 1200 and 1666 milliseconds;
• between 1666 and 2400 milliseconds;
• more than 2400 milliseconds.

The main recommendations for improving Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) are video and image optimization, reducing server response time, and eliminating render blocking. Our expert developers can help you improve site performance.

This metric measures the web elements’ unexpected offset during page rendering. If buttons, text, images, forms, and other site’s elements move unexpectedly, it degrades user experience. Consider how we improve Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS):

• specifying the size of images, videos;
• moving ads outside the viewing area;
• avoid inserting new content on top of existing content;
• prevent Flash of Invisible Text (FOIT);
• avoid non-composite animations.

To cover some of these points, we use the CSS programming language. For example, to specify the media files. Our WordPress website developers can improve your webpage’s Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

This setting measures the time it takes for a user to interact with a page. For example, how long does it take from a button click to a browser response. The faster the interaction, the better for ranking the site in the search engine. Ideally, the response delay should be less than 100 milliseconds.

To improve FID (First Input Delay), we reduce the impact of third-party code, optimize the JavaScript execution, maintain a small number of requests and a small amount of data transferred. Entrust the code optimization to our WordPress development company.

The metric is not included in core web vitals, but displays how fast the actual page content loads. That is, photos, videos, text and other elements that are important to the user. FCP is the time elapsed from when the site starts loading until the first content is displayed. There are 4 FCP thresholds:

• 934 milliseconds or less;
• between 934 and 1205 milliseconds;
• between 1205 and 1600 milliseconds;
• more than 1600 milliseconds.

In the first case, no improvement is required. If FCP is greater than 934 milliseconds, improvements are required. Let’s take a look at the most common recommendations for improving First Contentful Paint:

• Decreased server response time. To do this, you could use CDN (Content Delivery Network), avoid multi-page redirects, and use caching. Such actions reduce the load on the server, therefore, the content loads faster.
• Eliminate render-blocking resources. Scripts, style sheets, and HTML imports are render-blocking resources. If you don’t know how to optimize the website in this case, we can help. Our developers will remove the render-blocking resources.
• Minimizing the number of requests and payload sizes. In order for pages to load quickly even with a slow Internet, it is necessary that the number of requests and the size of the transmitted data be small.

We follow these recommendations and take a professional approach to improving performance. If you don’t believe the words, you can test our site yourself with GTmetrix, Google Pagespeed Insights to make sure it’s fast.

In addition to these 4 main indicators, there are other metrics that are also important to track. For example:

• Speed Index (SI). This indicator depends on FCP and LCP. To improve it, it is necessary to reduce the execution time of Javascript, reduce the influence of third-party code, and replace large libraries with smaller resources.
• Total Blocking Time (TBT). It measures the total amount of time your web page has been blocked, preventing a user from interacting with your page. We can improve Total Blocking Time (TBT) by optimizing JavaScript.
• Time to Interactive (TTI). TTI measures the earliest time after First Contentful Paint (FCP), when a page is ready for use.

As you can see, most of the indicators depend on the cleanliness and optimization of the code. We recommend hiring experienced web developers to improve page loading speed and performance.

We provide full range optimization services

Free audit

In 24 hours or less we provide a detailed audit (Google PageSpeed Insights, GTMetrix) of your website. Highlighting the most essentials issues that should be improved and detailed estimation of these tasks

Services

Lazy Loading Images

Render blocking resources

Server optimization

JS & CSS optimization

Content delivery network

Database optimization

Image Compression

Cache configuration

Image optimization

Browser Caching

Fullpage Caching

Expected results

95+

Get Free Website Speed Audit

As we can see, Google PageSpeed Optimization is a complex of measures that are difficult to perform on your own. Our company professionally deals with such issues and offers individual solutions to improve web page efficiency. Fill out the form below and get a site audit in a short time for low loading speed. Why you should trust us:

• more than 30 fixed compatibility and load speed issues;
• experienced WP website developers;
• an integrated approach to optimizing WordPress websites.

We follow the WordPress code, we offer services at an adequate price list. You can take a look at our portfolio, where you can visually see the results of our work. Write to us now and get a fast website with clean code ASAP!