Thinking of starting a blog, WordPress is the best CMS for bloggers who don’t have any technical understanding of the code. All they need to set up the blog and start publishing the blog posts using the universally accepted SEO-friendly Content Management system. Installing a few WP plugins make the life for blogger easier to do what they want to implement in terms of beautifying the blog/website.
The next important factor for running a successful blog is the speed of the blog. In technical terms, we can say it as Page Speed of the web pages.
Here in this article, we will discuss the page speed of the blog and how it is impacting the ranking of the blog in the Google search engine?
What is Page Speed?
Page Speed is the amount of time that your website/blog can take to display the first set of information on the page. The information can be in the form of content / Video/images etc. Basically, the page speed is determined by various factors like server response time, image load time, page size in terms of KB etc.
Different Ways to measure the Page Speed
There are different ways to measure the page speed/web page load time of any blog/website.
Listed below are the three important factors to measure the page load time of any website.
- Fully Loaded Page: The term fully loaded page means your 100% content/information should be displayed and visible to the user. This is the simplest way to check the page load time of a website.
- Time to the first byte: The process to measure how much time it takes to start the loading process of the web page. Whenever you found a white screen displayed post clicking or hitting any URL in the browser, it means TTFB is in process and resources will be loaded in a few seconds.
- First Meaningful paint / First Contextual paint: We can define it in a way to display the first useful set of resources to be loaded for the user. If the total load time of the page takes 15 seconds, then we can say the page load time is very bad, the other way to look at this how the user can interact with the page, if the required set of information/resources in terms of content, infographics, videos etc to be displayed in 2 seconds means the page load time is good as the user start interacting with the page.
Best Practices to Improve the page speed
Compress Images:
Images take the longest time to load and most of the images take 80% of the total page size.
So the first important point is to optimize your images so that the Web Page loads faster and increases the engagement metrics.
If you are using WordPress, then install the WP Smush plugin to reduce the image size of the blog, which makes the web page lighter and helps to load faster. Using this plugin can reduce the image size by 14.2%.
Clean and Compress your code:
In technical terms to minify the resources found on your page. These resources includes
The HTML Code
CSS
Javascript
Any redundant code which is of no use
First is to optimize the code and reduce the length of the code by removing the extra line of code.
The Page will load faster with lesser code length.
Implement the CDN:
CDN means the content delivery network, the process to serve the request from the server which is located very close to the requested location. CDN is one of the easiest and best ways to load your website/blog faster.
Upgrade Hosting:
The server where your website host plays a major role in loading your website. If you start a blog on WordPress and host your website on the server having shared hosting, means you are sharing a server with millions of other websites.
Here I would recommend paying for the dedicated server, Although this is costlier than the shared one, but will give you fruitful results in the long term. Loading the page faster will improve the engagement metrics like Bounce Rate, Average time on the Website etc.
Reduce the re-directs
Reduce the number of redirects as the user has to wait for additional seconds every time a user sends a request and wait for the response. There are multiple tools available online to check the redirects.
For Example: topbloggingcoach.com ——> https://topbloggingcoach.com —–>> m.topbloggingcoach.com ——> m.topbloggingcoach.com/home
Tools to check the page speed
There are multiple tools available online to check the Page Speed of your website/blog. All these are well known and used by internet marketing experts. In the below list one of the tools is developed by Google itself as a facility for the SEO experts / Bloggers / Techies to check the Page Performance in terms of loading the resources etc.
- Load Impact
- Google Page Speed
- GTmetrix
- Web Page Test
- Pingdom Website Speed Test
Google page speed insights
Google Page speed insight is the Page Speed checker tool developed by Google and hosted at Google.com. This is the most popular and well know tool to be used by SEO experts during the technical auditing of the website. You can get the device-wise analysis of the website both (desktop and mobile).
Google Page speed insights will give you a detailed analysis along with suggestions (Covering both the suggestions and Diagnosis) on how to improve the speed of the website / Blog. The complete audit categorized under the various categories like FCP, TBT, LCP & CLS.
Important Metrics to Monitor in Page Speed Insight Tool:
- First contentful paint
- Time to Interactive
- Speed Index
- Largest Contentful paint
- Cumulative Layout Shift
Opportunities to Improve the Page Speed:
Working on the below listed issues will help to improve the page speed of the web page and help to load the Page faster which will directly improve the bounce rate and average time on page, basically all engagement metrices.
Importance of Page speed in Google ranking
The page speed of any website/blog is one of the critical ranking factors in Google. Page with bad Page speed load very slow and ruin the user experience also increases the bounce rate of the website. As a result, the average time on the website is very low.
Since 2010 Page speed is important for Ranking as mentioned by Google.
And again updated the industry with the latest update in 2018, that Page Speed is still the most important ranking factor for your online portals.
In Brief:
- The website with poor page load time is actually impacting the ranking of the website in search engine very badly.
- Impacts the user experience as it takes ages to open a web page despite of the google internet connectivity.
- Increases the bounce rate of the webiste and lowers the average time on webiste.
WP Plugins to improve the Page Speed
If you have developed your blog/website in WordPress using any of the best hosting services, then there are multiple WP Plugins to improve the page speed of the website.
Here i am listing down the WordPress Plugins that can be used to improve the blog speed.
- WP Rocket
- Perfmatters
- Nitropack
- WP Fastest Cache
- Cache Enabler
- WP Super Cache
- W3 Total Cache
- WP Super Minify
- WP Smush
- LazyLoad by WP Rocket
- Learn How to set up your blog using the best WP Plugins
- Best SEO tools to know & Google Search Console tools – Complete Guide
- Learn Search Engine Optimization and how to optimize your images using best on-page SEO tips
If you want to learn SEO more in detail/want SEO services for your online portal/website, Pls email me at [email protected] with your requirement. I will reply in 24 – 48 hrs.
Marcel Spitz says
Hi Theodore, very interesting blog you have here. I saw your comment at Adrienne Smith and followed you from there. Will now be a regular follower of your blog. Regards.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks and welcome to my blog Marcel,
I’m indeed very happy to have you here. Thanks for the complement. Hope to be seeing you around.
Thanks and To your success.
Sarvesh says
Well according to, blog or website loading time will be considered as a point in SEO and google ranking too. so we must improve the loading time that can be checked using google speed tool.
thanks
Theodore Nwangene says
Honestly Sarvesh,
We really have to do something about our blog’s loading time in order to maintain our authority in the eye of Google.
Thanks for coming.
Adrienne says
Hey Theodore,
I read Tim’s post and this was also an issue I shared over on my blog as well recently.
I think that a lot of people weren’t really aware that your load time can actually hurt your Google ranking and this is just another thing that they have implemented. I’ve checked my blog so many times but there are some things I refuse to take off so if I get penalized I just guess I do.
Thanks for sharing this infographic because you’re right, we do enjoy seeing them.
~Adrienne
Theodore Nwangene says
Indeed Adrienne,
I remembered I’ve read a post on your blog regards this same subject, I even wanted to link to it but couldn’t locate the link.
I’ve also made it a habit to be checking my own blog every now and then to ensure it’s still OK.
Thanks for coming and do enjoy your weekend.
Andrew says
Some great points in this article, Theodore!
I’m soon going to buy a premium seo-optimized theme for my blog that promises to load much faster and generally feel a lot smoother. Also planning on getting a better hosting solution for this purpose.
Looking forward to the results these changes will bring in Google Ranking!
Theodore Nwangene says
Hi Andrew,
Its really important to purchase a premium theme for SEO and branding purpose, but that’s if you’ve gotten the money for that. So what hosting are you currently using? If its not good, then you have to change it ASAP too. Thanks for coming and let me know if you need my help while choosing your theme and hosting.
Sue Neal says
Hi Theodore,
Great post and lovely infographic. I think loading time’s very important and I was very relieved when I checked mine recently, after reading Tim’s post, to find that it’s not too bad.
Something else I’ve discovered recently is that there’s an option in cpanel to optimize your site, which a lot of people aren’t aware of – it’s just a button in your cpanel, in the software/services section of your dashboard – just checking this option can apparently make quite a difference.
Sue
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for the compliments Sue,
I’m happy you like the post. Tim’s post on this subject was also a bomb. The issue is that most of us don’t even no that our blog loading speed is very low, that’s why its always advisable to be checking it.
Wow, i didn’t know of that wonderful feature on the control panel, thanks for the revelation.
I will check it out ASAP.
Thanks for coming.
Sapna says
Hi Theodore
This is really a great infographic. Google is really penalizing people for their blog performance. I am using Yahoo’s YSLOW for monitoring the performance of my blog.
But I really don’t know Google is TESTING the Speed of the blog at How much Bandwidth, if the speed of my internet is slow blog will load slow there is no doubt to it.
Google has to give us the testing parameters as well.
Thanks for sharing this great post.
Sapna
Theodore Nwangene says
Agree with you on that Sapna,
It is obvious that we do have some slow internet speed sometimes, its even a serious issue down here. So i agree with you that they should give us the testing parameters indeed.
I haven’t heard of that yahoo tool before but will check it out.
Thanks for your wonderful contribution and do enjoy your weekend.
Kabenlah says
Those points were verily laid out and one really ought to consider when setting up a blog.
Theodore Nwangene says
They ought to be considered indeed Kabenlah,
If you fail to fix it, they you may be out for a bigger mistake.
Thanks for visiting.
Marcel Spitz says
Back for more of your blog Theodore, just as promised. Regards
Theodore Nwangene says
Welcome back Marcel,
I’m glad you visited again. Thanks and enjoy your weekend.
Chadrack says
Hi Theodore,
A great subject as usual. However, I must say the infographic does not contain enough details on this subject but the referenced articles are truly awesome! I checked them out and they are more helpful than the infographic.
To your question, yes loading time does affect Google ranking. In fact, that is one of the elements Google count under user experience especially since Google Panda launched. I’ve personally been using different tactics to reduce my blog’s load time but what I have learned along the way is that your web host has a lot to do with load time. If you are hosting with a company that offers cdn facilities, you could be of advantage.
Thanks for sharing.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for the compliments Bro,
I’m very happy you like the post. So what are those methods you’ve applied to increase your blog’s loading speed.
I’ve never heard of cdn facilities, can you please shade more light on that?
Thanks for the visit man.
BTW: I’m very sorry for the issues you had with your blog last week, I’m happy you’re back now.
Enjoy your day.
Shorya Bist says
Hi Theodore,
Thanks for sharing information brother.I like your article and i also believe that blog page loading is one the factor which can effect google ranking and your justification is right as page loading is also a part of SEO.
Thank You
Shorya Bist
From Youthofest
Theodore Nwangene says
Hi Shorya,
Thanks for the visit, I’m very glad you enjoyed the post.
Have a great week.
Tim Bonner says
Hey Theodore
Thank you so much for mentioning me in your post. I’m sorry I’ve not gotten over here sooner.
I really like the infographic and I’m sure that will help many people understand that google is looking at how quickly your blog or website loads in their algorithms.
I’ll check out the other resources you mention as well. Sue has also found something we can use on the cpanel to improve speed so I’m going to look at that further.
I hope you had a great weekend Theodore and that your week has started well.
Tim
Dmitrio says
The website loading speed really matters that is why I’m keeping my “money websites” on clean html/css. And btw, I can recommend you try Google Page Speed extension for Firefox. It will give you a number of valuable suggestions on how to speed-up the landing page. Have a great day, Theodore!
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks and welcome Dmitrio,
I’m happy to have you here and will surely try what you suggested.
Thanks for the visit.
Lisa says
Great infographic. I have removed some things from my sidebar to increase the speed of mine. But I did notice many WordPress sites seemed slower than other type of websites. I had read Tim Bonner’s piece too on it. There are so many things can affect the speed of a website. And we thought we all just wanted to blog, we have to become tech geeks to run them 🙂 Thanks for sharing the info Theodore.
Theodore Nwangene says
Well said Lisa,
We really need to be some kind of tech geeks so as to know how to handle some technical things.
Its also good to look at our sidebars just as you’ve done. Sue also shared a very important tip here, you may have to give it a shot too.
Thanks for the comment and good luck.
Akos Fintor says
Hey Theodore,
Awesome infographic and great insight on the topic.
I do get annoyed when sites load slowly, oh well I guess I’m just another human who’s attention span is shrinking by the minute. We want all things happen right away, better yet NOW!
thanks for the share!
Akos
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for sharing your wonderful thoughts Finto, glad you like the infographic.
Rojish says
Nice infograhic, thanks for sharing it.
Good loading speed is an important thing. Slow loading websites will drive away visitors as well as result in a low search engine ranking. Using a clean, minimalist theme, removing unwanted plugins and above all using a good web host will result in a fast loading website.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks and welcome to my blog Rojish,
I agree with you that having a good web host can also increase a site loading speed, we just have to check out to see how we can improve the speed of ours. Thanks for coming.
Amit says
Awesome info-graphic representations. I agree with you. These days people don’t have so much time or patience that they can wait for too much time. Loading time totally affects site ranking and also bounce rates.
Theodore Nwangene says
Welcome to my blog Amit,
I’m happy you took the time to visit me, really appreciate. Thanks
Mobile App Development says
with what you’re trying to say. I’m sure you’ll reach so many people with what you’ve got to say..
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks
Gregory Despain says
I just want to tell you that I’m beginner to blogging and site-building and truly liked your page. Probably I’m planning to bookmark your site . You actually have perfect well written articles. Regards for sharing your website.
Mubashir says
Great work. I appreciate your work. Can you suggest a cache plugin to reduce the page loading time?
Theodore Nwangene says
Sure Mubashir,
I’m using WP Super Cache, and i really love the simplicity. You can give it a trial. Thanks for visiting my blog.
beauty says
I will immediately seize your rss feed as I can’t finnd your e-mail subscription link or e-newsletter service.
Do you’ve any? Please permit me know so that I may subscribe.
Thanks.
Rebecca says
Optimize your non-text content so search engines can see it.
If your site utilizes Flash or PDFs, make sure you study up on the most reccent ideal practices
so ssearch engines can crawl that content and give your web
site credit for it.