In today’s digital age with website speed, having a website that loads quickly is essential. Not only does a slow website frustrate users, but it can also negatively impact search engine rankings. Google’s Core Web Vitals, introduced in 2020, is a set of metrics that measure user experience on websites. They are an important part of Google’s algorithm for ranking websites, and they focus on three main aspects of user experience: loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. In this article, we’ll look at how you can increase website speed with Core Web Vitals.
Website speed – Optimise for images
One of the most significant factors that contribute to slow website loading times is the size of the images on the page. Optimising images can significantly reduce the time it takes for a website to load. You can optimise images by compressing them without losing quality. There are many tools available to compress images, such as TinyPNG and Compressor.io. Using these tools can significantly reduce the file size of images without compromising quality.
Minimise JavaScript and CSS Files
Another significant factor that can slow down your website is the size of your JavaScript and CSS files. You can reduce the size of these files by minifying them. Minification is a process that removes unnecessary whitespace and comments from the code, reducing its size without changing its functionality. There are many tools available to minify JavaScript and CSS files, such as UglifyJS and CSSNano.
Use Browser Caching
Browser caching is a technique for website speed that stores frequently used files, such as images and CSS, on a user’s computer. When a user revisits a website, the browser can retrieve these files from the cache, reducing the time it takes to load the page. You can enable browser caching by setting an expiration date on the files that you want to cache. You can also use a plugin like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache to enable browser caching on WordPress websites.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of servers located in different parts of the world. When a user visits your website, the CDN will automatically serve the content from the server that is closest to the user. This can significantly reduce the time it takes for your website to load. Cloudflare is one of the most popular CDN services available, and it offers a free plan.
Reduce Server Response Time
The time it takes for your server to respond to a request from a user can significantly impact the speed of your website. You can reduce server response time by optimising your server’s configuration, using a high-performance web server like Nginx or Apache, and minimising the number of requests that your server has to handle. Website speed can be enhanced with server management.
Use Lazy Loading
Lazy loading is a technique that delays the loading of images and videos until they are needed. This can significantly reduce the time it takes for a page to load, especially on pages with lots of images and videos. You can use a plugin like Lazy Load or WP YouTube Lyte to enable lazy loading on your website.
Optimize Fonts for website speed
Fonts can also significantly impact the speed of your website. You can optimise fonts by using web-safe fonts that are readily available on users’ computers, reducing the number of custom fonts you use, and using font subsets to reduce the size of the font files. You can also use a font optimisation tool like Font Squirrel to generate optimised font files for your website.
Monitor Core Web Vitals
After implementing the above steps, it’s essential to monitor your website’s Core Web Vitals to ensure that they meet Google’s standards. You can use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse to test your website’s speed and identify areas that need improvement. It’s also best to create a dashboard to monitor website speed and core web vitals on Looker Studio Dashboard from Google. There are many free SEOcore web vital dashboards to choose from and its quick and easy to link your website.
Conclusion:
Increasing website speed with Core Web Vitals is essential for providing a good user experience and improving search engine rankings. By optimising images, minimising JavaScript and CSS files, using browser caching, using a CDN, reducing server response time, using lazy loading, and optimising fonts, you can significantly improve the speed of your website.
