The web performance can be defined by the time loading and execution of a web page. In other words, by popularizing, it is the speed of a website. This is important to consider for your SEO and this for several reasons.
Why optimize the speed of your site?
Because Google likes (some) it
It is well known, Google wants the website publishers to apply what is good for the user, such as a website loading quickly for example. Yet today it seems that the speed of a web page display is not directly referencing a major factor in the Google algorithm despite regular communication search engine in this direction:
- In April 2010, Google announced on its blog for webmasters now that the loading speed of a site will have an impact on its position in the SERP.
- In June 2013 at SMX, Matt Cutts tells us that Google will deploy a disadvantageous criterion for slow websites in mobile results.
But when you look more closely, the speed of a site does not seem so important to the search engine’s eyes:
- In August 2013, Moz has published a study which aims to highlight a correlation between performance and web positioning in SERP. They conclude that this factor has virtually no impact on SEO.
- In April 2015, in a Hangout, John Mueller, an engineer at Google announces it is unclear what influence the loading speed of a site. It then adds that there is indeed a penalizing factor for particularly slow sites, but he believes that most webmasters should not worry about this aspect.
Yet if the loading speed does not seem to be a direct criterion referencing it is still better to present a powerful site to Google:
- An efficient site will crawl faster then Google will be able to index more content for equal time allocated to your site. This could, in particular, allow the position of more keywords with a broader content from Google known and thus, ultimately increase the number of visits.
- Google is experimenting with some markers in the SERP including slow indications, strongly penalize the CTR sites concerned if it was displayed permanently.
Because it’s good for your users
The mission of a responsible SEO is not just to bring a user to a query on a search engine to a web page. It is also to contribute fully to the strategy of the site to achieve an objective (sale, lead recovery, delivery of information, solve a problem, answer a question …).
A slow site is a barrier to each of these objectives.
Various studies show us that the slowness of a website is very frustrating for users.
- In 1999, a Zona Research study said that a third of visitors leave a site beyond eight seconds to load. In 2006, Akamai talked about 4 seconds …
- Amazon in tests reveals that sales declined by 1% per additional loading 100ms slice.
- In 2014, CDNetworks published the results of a poll announcing that 71% of respondents say they are “less likely to trust a brand having a slow website!”
- DareBoost, a company specialized in optimizing the speed of websites including the CEO, was interviewed in a previous article gives us some additional figures on its website that demonstrate the value of having a quick site. We learn “that a second load can cost 7% conversion” or that reduce the loading time of an e-commerce site will increase the average basket.
If you want to satisfy your users, reduce your bounce rate and increase your conversion rate, your best interest to maximize the speed of your site.
Why optimize images?
speed optimizations-imageWhen one wishes to reduce the loading time of a site, several levers available to us. We can rely on a server or CDN more suitable, clean the source code or use plugins to improve the cache and compress or reduce the data sent to the client
Because it’s easy!
In addition to all the options listed above, another can be performed without having to put their hands in the code: optimization of content. It is therefore to reduce the weight of the site images.
The advantage is that this task is simple to perform it does not require great technical skills and can be done by anyone.
The only limit to this lever is the time it can represent a cost. It may, however, be possible to automate the task in part by setting up a process to compress all the site images.
Because it is universal!
Most slowdown factors vary from one website to another as a function of CMS used, the selected host provider or the quality of the code. Each site can be a specific audit to improve speed. Only images relate to substantially all of the webs and can be optimized in the same way from one site to another. Thus, before a slow site, you can not go wrong track by checking if the images are optimized.
Because it works!
A poorly optimized image can quickly become the heaviest element of the page and then penalize the loading thereof. It is possible to reduce the weight of an image of several MB few Ko easily without the user perceives the difference between the two versions.
Thus, without changing the information on your website, you can easily divide the weight of page 10 in the worst (or best) scenario!
And how is it done?
Allegory speed websiteTo optimize an image, just follow a few basic principles that I list below you.
The size of the image
First, we must ensure that the image file on the site was not larger than that given to the user to see. If your CSS indicates the display of an image 300 * 500px there is no need to upload a video of 600 * 1000px. This would generate unnecessary load for the user.
About image resolution, I digress on the myth of the display density of 72 pixels per inch. This resolution was adapted to the era of CRT monitors all of which had a density approaching that figure. Today, the resolution of the screens is much more variable and the average density is closer to 100 dpi, a figure constantly increasing. Browsers rely solely on an image pixel dimensions to define its display size. Thus, an image 800 * 600 dpi px 72 will also be displayed in the same way that an equivalent size image at 300 dpi. Set a resolution is important today especially for print.
The file format
Then you have to choose the right file format. Web browsers are able to display different formats that are suitable for various uses.
- Jpeg is preferred when you want to display a complex image such as a photograph. Indeed, it displays 16.7 million colors and offers a good value quality / weight.
- PNG must be favored when an image contains text or to display icons, illustrations or logos. Indeed, this format works without loss of data files at the expense of weight. It is particularly suitable for synthetic images with less extensive color palette in a photograph. Also, the PNG supports transparency.
- The GIF has the great advantage of supporting moving pictures. Perfect for humorous illustrations! This format is limited to a maximum of 256 colors. It is more suitable for images with flat areas and can potentially be used for logos or icons.
The optimizations discussed above can all be obtained through an image processing software like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP. After completing this processing, it is possible to further reduce the weight of the images through the use of optimization tools:
Easily found on the various web free tools to all work in a similar way: simply upload the images and let the machine work. At the exit, it retrieves a similar image to the naked eye, but whose weight has been reduced.
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