I’ve published content before on the importance of fast websites and I can’t reiterate this enough, so in this post, I’ll outline 5 ways that will help you achieve lightning-fast website loading times to speed up your website.
Website speed affects conversion rates – and this statement couldn’t be more accurate owing to the Core Web Vitals updates that have been rolling out through the Internet since January 2021.
If you’re doing any kind of SEO in Hong Kong then this is something you’ll have to address, i.e. speed!
A sluggish site increases bounce rates, abandon carts, unread content, and missed chances to convert.
Your loss is your competitor’s gain. Page load times directly affect revenue, here’s a solid review on that from HubSpot – and this experience can likely mean that your potential customers will switch to a rival after a bad web experience.
Google says “speed equals revenue.”
This is true for both desktop and mobile sites, but especially mobile.
Even a 2-second delay in mobile load time can reduce conversion rates…
Now that we know why a fast-loading website is vital, let’s learn how to test and improve our own.
Page Speed Testing
There are several techniques to measure website page load time. Among the most often used SEO tools are PageSpeed and GMetrix.
DataGoogle’s PageSpeed Insights is a free tool that analyzes your website’s performance and suggests improvements whilst many SEOs in Hong Kong trust GTmetrix. It will rate your site from A to F based on how quickly it loads on both mobile and desktop devices. It then makes specific recommendations for your SEO approach.
Try To Improve Site Speed!
These tips will help you increase your page speed. For those interested in learning more about site and page performance, here are some more resources.
Resize Your Images To Speed Up Your Website
Contents
This is a biggie. Reducing picture size is one of the easiest yet most efficient methods to speed up website loading. Reducing the size of your media assets doesn’t imply sacrificing quality; there are several free picture compression programs online. However, picture size may make or break a customer’s decision to visit your site or a competitor’s.
Dispose of Obsolete Code
Javascript is the code that powers your website’s animation. It’s a wonderful way to spice up your websites, however unused javascript will remain on your server even when not in use. This slows down your site by adding unneeded weight.
It’s a bit like your wardrobe at home: you’ve got to (sometimes) donate your old clothes to charity if they’re just taking up space in the closet. Old javascript behaves similarly. Get rid of old code to save space! Unused CSS is also a likely culprit; here’s a good tool that you can use to find unused CSS.
Use A CDN
If your website is located on a foreign server (for example in the US) and someone from Hong Kong views it, it will take longer to load. Using a Content Delivery Network is like storing your website in multiple warehouses across the world so that users can obtain what they want fast. My recommendation is to use a server-based in either Hong Kong or Singapore.
Incidentally – if you’re interested to learn more about Hong Kong domains click here and whether the .hk and .com.hk domains will expire in 2047.
Use Lazy Loaders (For Images)
This suggestion is vital for sites that employ a lot of media, like retail, travel, or real estate sites – of which there are a ton in Hong Kong.
More media on a page means slower loading. A lazy loader only loads visible material when your site first loads; further media will load when the user scrolls down. With a slow loader, you can get a user to engage with your website faster and easier.
Host With A Solid Reputable Provider
Don’t go cheap. Forget GoDaddy – if you use WordPress then choose Digital Ocean or WPEngine.
Choosing the lowest hosting option means sharing a server with hundreds of other websites all attempting to load at the same time.
Speed will be lost, and your website may collapse if too many people come at the same time. The key to any effective SEO strategy is showing Google that you care about the customer experience.
Does Site Speed Affect SEO?
All the best Hong Kong SEO Companies won’t ignore the relationship between SEO and site speed – are you one of them?
Google prioritizes site speed so you’d be wise to remember that!
The faster your site loads, the higher Google will rank your pages in search results.
While search engines like Google employ hundreds of ranking criteria to evaluate websites, site speed comes within the user experience umbrella.
Simply said, Google wants users to be able to find information quickly and easily on relevant websites.
Along with conventional SEO ranking signals like content and backlinks, variables like site speed, design, layout, and accessibility are important in SEO.