Are you frustrated with your website’s page speed performance despite your best efforts?
Many of my friends have reached out with concerns about my previous post on [page speed improvement techniques](https://irfanhabeeb.com/increase-page-speed-of-a-website-and-score-100/).
Improve Page Speed
If you’re still disappointed with your website’s page speed even after implementing the techniques from the previous post, this article is for you!
Discover what might be hindering your website’s load time with various online analysis tools. Use tools like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights to get tailored suggestions for improving your page speed.
Why Isn’t My Page Speed Score Improving?
I can help answer this question, but please read this article thoroughly. Your page speed largely depends on how well you’ve configured your website.
Right Web Hosting
First, you need to choose the best hosting provider.
Based on my experience, hosting with a reputable provider is crucial. Poor hosting can result in significantly slower page speeds. For example, my site initially took 5 seconds to load with a different host but now loads in 1 second on desktop and 2 to 3 seconds on mobile.
The difference between high-quality and poor hosting can be up to 3 to 4 seconds in extra loading time!
To avoid this, select a top-tier hosting provider. This is the first and most important page speed improvement technique.
If your website is hosted on a slow server, all your efforts to improve page speed will be in vain. Check out [this article](https://irfanhabeeb.com/how-to-find-a-good-web-hosting-for-your-website-in-2020/) to learn how to find the best web hosting for your needs.
Image Optimization
Not optimizing your images before and after uploading them can severely impact your page speed. Compress your images using tools like Photoshop or online compressors such as Compressjpeg.com before uploading them.
Additionally, optimize images on the front end of your website using plugins like Smush Image Compression.
Image CDN
You can significantly enhance your page speed by using an Image CDN. CDNs deliver your website’s images from multiple, geographically diverse servers, making your site faster globally.
While there are various Image CDN services, Jetpack’s free Photon CDN is an excellent option. It offers unlimited image serving and boosts your site’s performance at no cost.
Lazy Load Images
Lazy loading ensures that images only load when necessary. This means images will load as users scroll down the page, improving overall page speed. You can enable lazy loading with the Jetpack WordPress plugin or other similar plugins. If you’re already using Jetpack for other features, there’s no need for additional plugins.
Use WebP Images
Jetpack’s CDN also allows you to serve images in the WebP format for compatible browsers, which can reduce image sizes and improve page speed. For icons and logos, consider using SVG format instead of PNG. You can convert PNG files to SVG using various online converters.
Cloudflare Settings
Cloudflare offers numerous services to boost page speed. Utilize all relevant features to enhance your website’s performance.
Settings to Enable on Your Cloudflare Dashboard
Cloudflare provides many settings for firewall, SSL, DNS, and more. For optimizing page speed, focus on:
– **Auto Minify:** Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML by selecting “All” from the HTML, JavaScript, and CSS options.
– **Brotli Compression:** Enable Brotli compression from the Cloudflare Speed tab. Brotli offers better text compression by using a dictionary of common keywords and phrases.
– **Rocket Loader:** Activate Rocket Loader to defer JavaScript loading, improving metrics such as Time to First Paint (TTFP) and Time to First Contentful Paint (TTFCP). Enable it via Cloudflare Dashboard -> Speed -> Optimization.
– **Caching:** Set cache level to “Standard,” cache TTL to 8 hours, and enable the “Always Online” option. Configure these in the Caching tab.
– **Network Settings:** Enable HTTP/3 (with QUIC) to accelerate HTTP requests and 0-RTT Connection Resumption for improved performance. Allow WebSockets for real-time applications.
– **Page Rules:** Set up page rules in the Page Rules tab to optimize further.
Lazy Load Advertisements
Lazy loading advertisements can also improve page speed. If you’re using AdSense and are concerned about performance, try lazy loading your ads.
Remove the standard ad code and add the following code to your site’s footer:
<!--noptimize--> <script type="text/javascript"> function downloadJSAtOnload() { var element = document.createElement("script"); element.src = "https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"; document.body.appendChild(element); } if (window.addEventListener) window.addEventListener("load", downloadJSAtOnload, false); else if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent("onload", downloadJSAtOnload); else window.onload = downloadJSAtOnload; </script> <!--/noptimize-->
Conclusion
This article is for webmasters struggling to achieve optimal page speed scores. Read my previous post to learn more about page speed and its importance. Improving page speed requires technical optimizations, and without a reliable hosting provider, your efforts will be in vain. Choose a top-quality web hosting service and implement effective optimization techniques to boost your page speed.
