The best way to learn how to improve website performance is by implementing actionable ideas and techniques. You don’t need to learn complicated concepts to improve your website. The 12 actionable tips in this guide will inspire you to take action and improve your site. Each tip tackles a different aspect of website performance. By following these guidelines, you will drastically improve your website. Even if you only do one or two of these suggestions, you will make progress.
Table of Contents
Guidelines for Improving Website Performance
A website’s performance is largely dependent on its design and how visitors interact with it. A high conversion rate means happy visitors, who are more likely to complete a desired action. While conversion rates are affected by a variety of factors, some factors are particularly relevant to website performance. One such factor is error rate, which is the percentage of HTTP requests that return error codes. High error rates are a major red flag because they cause your pages to load slowly and can turn visitors away.
One of the first steps in performance optimization is to eliminate any unnecessary requests. Many websites use multiple HTTP requests to fetch the various elements of a page, which increases the time it takes to load a page. Also, unnecessary scripts and stylesheets can add additional time to the load time of your website.
Another important factor for website performance is the time it takes to start rendering. On average, a website should load in under two seconds. Top-performing websites achieve this mark in less than one second. Other important metrics to check include the time it takes for the website’s title to appear in the browser tab. The faster the title appears, the more quickly the website is loading.
A website’s speed plays a major role in a customer’s loyalty. A website with a faster load time will likely result in more satisfied visitors, a larger customer base, and a better brand. Although most people use desktop computers to browse the web, many people use mobile devices for their internet needs, and it is essential to optimize your website for these mobile devices in order to maximize sales.
Optimize Your Site’s Structure
Optimizing your site’s structure involves a series of complex steps, many of which are not trivial. First, you need to visualize your site’s current structure. Luckily, there are many tools available for this purpose. Once you have a clear visual of your site’s current structure, you can begin making small, incremental changes to it. Make sure to start with global changes like grouping queries and semantics, and consider removing some pages, too.
Optimal site structure helps visitors navigate the site easily, and it helps search engines understand your site. It will help you increase your website’s ranking as well as improve the overall user experience. For example, a good site structure will be easy to navigate, with core pages like the homepage, about page, contact page, and services page. There should also be sub-pages within these core pages.
To increase conversions, your website navigation should be designed to funnel visitors to the most important pages. Make sure that the relevant pages are easy to find so that visitors can easily complete a task or purchase a product. For example, if your website sells a mobile app, you should make it easy to download it from the landing page.
To make your navigation easier to read, use a clear information hierarchy. Also, use URLs with target keywords or keyword phrases. Avoid symbols or other non-words or phrases as these don’t add SEO value. Lastly, make sure your headers appear on every page of your site.
Your navigation is essential to keeping your website visitors engaged. People want to find the information they need quickly, and a poorly designed site can turn them off before they even get there. Using footer links and navigation menus can help. They also provide additional space for banners and branding. In addition, your footer will provide context for your site navigation and will encourage your visitors to stay longer.
Your navigation is the interface that connects the pages on your website. This should be easy to use and easy to navigate. If visitors can’t find what they’re looking for easily, they’ll simply leave. A good website should provide them with the information they’re looking for without any trouble.
Related content can make visitors stay on your website longer and increase your SEO value. The key is to structure your links so they help readers find related content. Avoid including SEO phrases in your links, but instead focus on helping your readers find related content. Another easy way to make related content more visible is to install a Related Posts plugin for your blog or website.