On the roads, speed kills. On the Internet, it’s just the opposite: lack of speed kills. How quickly your site loads plays a gigantic role in search rankings, whether it shows up on mobile searches, whether customers stick around and eventually convert — you name it.

The Web keeps getting faster, and Google has made it clear that sites that don’t adjust their load time accordingly will plummet in search results. So let’s remind you of some of the key things you need to consider regarding page speed on your site:

Every piece of site data increases load time From code to comments to text, everything on your site factors into its speed. That’s just common sense: the more stuff on there, the longer it will take to be delivered.

Just like stripping down a racecar to its bare essentials to reduce weight — or deciding what to pack on a trip when the airline charges you plenty of dough for extra bags — you should be certain that everything on your website is essential to the site’s proper function. If it’s not necessary, get rid of it.

A good website designer can help you understand which elements are bogging down your load times, helping you determine which ones are absolutely critical.

Image optimization
Images can take up a lot of data, so you need to be smart about which images you need and ensure they’re designed to load as quickly as possible.

If an image on your website isn’t beneficial to visitors retention and conversions, remove it. If there are images you need, resize and crop them as necessary to make sure you’re delivering what’s necessary without additional bulk. You can also use image compression to make file sizes smaller while retaining quality.

This is where things get rather technical, and unless you’ve been hands-on in designing your website and determining its elements, it’s best left to experienced designers and webmasters.

When speaking with them, be sure to get the lowdown on what (if any) CSS and Javascript elements are used on your site, because they often block the rendering of pages until these elements are loaded.

These are just a few considerations to keep in mind, and we’ll keep advising of things to watch out for when considering your site’s load times. Feel free to inquire with Ring Ring Marketing on how you can make sure your site meets speed expectations now and in the future.