SEO for Beginners – Page Speed
What is SEO? SEO for Beginners
Welcome back to what is SEO – SEO for Beginners Series. In the last video, we went over SEO Factor #2 Backlinks:
We explained:
- The importance of Backlinks and why they are not dead
- How to Create Valuable Content
- And how to Promote your Content
In this video, we are on #3 of the 10 most important ranking factors, and that is Pagespeed.
SEO Factor #3: Page Speed
Page speed is how fast a web page loads in a browser. Fast pages can be viewed instantly, while slow pages can take a longer time to appear. These days, page speed matters more to Google.
Think about it from Google’s perspective.
If they send searchers to a site that takes a long time to load, those searchers are not going to be happy. People want to see results fast, and if a page is slow, they’ll leave to another page.
Google tends to favor fast pages over slow ones in the search results. All other things being equal, a faster page ranks higher.
To see how your site performs, use the free Google tool Test My Site.
It will analyze your website, tell you how it is performing, and give you specific suggestions for speeding up your site.
In addition to the recommendations by Test My Site, there are several simple things you can do to speed up your site.
If you aren’t comfortable doing this yourself, ask your webmaster if they can help you with them.
Speed up your site with Compressed Images
Large images on pages dramatically increase the time it takes them to load. A simple way to increase your page speed is to automatically compress all of your images. If you use WordPress, the plugin WP Smush Image can handle all the compression for you.
Once you install it, the plugin will go through all your images in your media library and find all the ones that it can compress. You can also bulk upload images, and WP Smush will compress them all of them for you.
If you’re using something other than WordPress, you can easily compress your images using a site like TinyPNG.
Speed up your site with Browser Caching
When a person visits your website, all the elements of your website, such as images and code, need to load into their browser. The process requires a lot of resources and slows the loading process.
Browser caching saves some elements of your website, like your headers and footers, within visitors’ browsers so that they don’t have to reload it all every time they visit your website. This can speed up your site quite a bit.
The WordPress plugin W3 Total Cache makes it very simple to implement browser caching on your website. A great paid option is WP-Rocket.
https://toriemathis.com/smart-seo/
Speed up your site – Minify Your HTML
When a person visits your website, the HTML code must be loaded into and interpreted by the browser. Decreasing the amount of code that must be loaded increases page speed.
Minification decreases the code by cleaning it up: removing any unnecessary lines, erasing duplicate information, and more.
And you don’t have to be a pro at coding to minify the HTML on your website. The WordPress plugin Minify HTML will take care of it for you.
Once installed, go to the settings and just turn it on. Your website speed will increase immediately.
Speed up your site by Removing Unused Plugins and Scripts
Plugins and scripts are an amazing way to improve the functionality of your site. Unfortunately, they can also reduce its performance. Each time your website loads, the plugins and scripts also must load.
An easy way to speed up your site is to remove any unnecessary or unused plugins and scripts.
speed up your site with A Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN puts the files for your website on a large number of servers around the world (as opposed to servers in just one central location). When a person visits your website, they get the files from the server that is closest to them.
The physical proximity of these servers increases the speed your pages load.
Some examples of CDNs are:
● MaxCDN
In the next video in the series, we’ll dive into SEO Factor #4: User Experience
SEO For Beginners – What Is SEO?
Search Factor 1 – Search Intent
Search Factor 3 <– you are here 🤩
Search Factor 4 – User Experience
Search Factor 5 – Content Freshness & Depth
Search Factor 6 – Domain Authority
Search Factor 8 – Mobile Friendliness
Search Factor 9 – Structured Data
Page Speed FAQs
Q: Why is website page speed important for SEO?
A: Website page speed is important for SEO because it is a ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm. Google has said that they use page speed as a signal in their algorithm, and they have also stated that they want to make the web faster. In addition, faster pages tend to have lower bounce rates and higher conversion rates.
Q: How can I improve my website’s page speed?
A: There are many factors that affect website page speed, but there are a few things you can do to help improve your site’s speed. First, make sure your site is using compression and caching properly. You can also optimize your images and minify your code to help reduce the size of your pages.
We have wasted so much time messing with plugins trying to improve our website speed and we found the WP Rocket is the BEST one, and only one you need to speed up your WordPress Website. Totally worth it! Free options are listed above too. 🙂
Q: What are some common factors that affect website page speed?
A: There are many factors that can affect website page speed, but some of the most common include the size of your pages, the number of HTTP requests, and the use of third-party scripts.
Q: How can I test my website’s page speed?
A: There are a few different tools you can use to test your website’s page speed. Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is a good option, and you can also use webpagetest.org.
Q: What are some common myths about website page speed?
A: There are a few common myths about website page speed, but the most important thing to remember is that page speed is just one factor in Google’s search algorithm. There are many other factors that are more important, such as the quality of your content and the relevance of your keywords.
About Digital Marketing Expert Torie Mathis
Torie Mathis helps entrepreneurs, like you, use digital marketing to grow your business without wasting time, money, or your sanity. She is a best-selling author, Army veteran, speaker + trainer, and your digital marketing coach. You don't need crazy tech skills, buckets of cash, or dedicated staff to market your business. In fact, you don't even need a lot of time. What you need is to be SMART.
Torie hosts SMART AF, a show for non-techy entrepreneurs looking to grow their business, with her husband Sean and is the creator of SMART AF Magazine. Learn from Torie at the Smart Arsenal and on her channel.
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