Why the WPO is so important for your website
The WPO (Web Performance Optimization) is the optimization of the performance of a web. This process is used to check and correct all the elements (server, code, images …) that affect the loading speed of a page.
The WPO concept seems to have become a fad in web development. However, this interest has an explanation.
The objective of this process is to optimize the web pages to minimize the waiting time required to view them completely . The importance of the WPO is that most users do not wait more than three seconds for a page to load: after that time, they choose to visit another competing page.
Thus, it is clear that the WPO is important for your website . But what is it and what advantages does it have? Don’t worry, we explain below.
WHAT IS THE WPO?
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The WPO (Web Performance Optimization) is a process that we can translate as optimizing the performance of a web page . Basically, it consists of analyzing the technical aspects of a web page and detecting the points that can be improved to reduce its loading speed .
In the online world, as we all know, the competition is very high. To stand out from other similar pages it is necessary to control many factors, from design to usability .
Users do not want to waste time in their searches, therefore, your website must be up to par so as not to lose relevance. If you want your website visitors to have a good user experience , you must improve the performance of your site to make it fast.
And this is achieved through the WPO.
HOW IS THE LOADING SPEED OF A WEBSITE MEASURED?
The performance of a web page depends on several factors, such as the type of server, the cleanliness of the code and the optimization of the images . This last aspect is especially important if you have an ecommerce , since online stores have hundreds or thousands of photographs that can slow down their operation.
The procedures for optimizing a web page analyze all the elements that affect performance and detect those that need improvement.
There are various tools that you can use to measure the speed of your website , both free and paid. Whichever one you choose, it is advisable to check the performance of your website from time to time and correct everything that affects loading times.
Here are some suggestions for tools you can use to check your page:
- Google PageSpeed Insights . As always, Google comes to our rescue with a free and very easy-to-use tool. It analyzes the loading speed of the web and offers suggestions for improving performance.
- GTmetrix . A very complete tool that offers clear and precise information on the performance of your website.
- Sitespeed.io . A set of open source tools to monitor and measure the performance of your website. Generate reports with disaggregated data.
- Yslow . It installs as a browser extension. Analyze the website and suggest ways to improve its performance by applying 34 optimization rules organized by categories.
Do not focus exclusively on the desktop version and also check the version of your website for mobile devices . In addition to using Google PageSpeed Insights, which offers you information in this regard, you can complement the information obtained by using mobyReady .
Once you have obtained the measurement with your preferred tool, all that remains is to make the necessary corrections to improve the loading speed of your website.
HOW CAN I OPTIMIZE MY WEBSITE?
The checking tools offer suggestions for improvement of the non-optimized elements. In general, the problems tend to occur in the weight of the images or videos, the structure and cleanliness of the programming language . However, there may be other factors that affect performance.
Server speed
When hiring a server to host your website or online store, you must know what benefits it offers you . For example, you are interested in knowing if they use HDD or SSD disks, since the latter are much faster. You should also ask about available RAM and transfer capacity, which can cause the server to slow or stop.
The use of the cache
The cache stores a copy of the page so that accessing it again loads the copy more quickly. This prevents the server from generating all the code again .
Code optimization
The loading speed of a website depends largely on the cleanliness of its code. Make sure that both HTML and CSS and JS are well structured, without unnecessary line breaks or spaces . It tries to control, as far as possible, that only the resources that are needed are loaded on each page, in order to reduce the weight and number of files requested by the server.
The size of images and videos
Images and videos are resource intensive, affecting loading time. Therefore, all multimedia files must be optimized so that their size is as small as possible without losing quality. In this sense, it is very important that you also make sure that you do not use image proportions higher than what you really need.
You can make use of the Lazy Load technique , which consists of the progressive loading of images and videos. In this way, these elements will be shown as the user scrolls in the browser and you will avoid loading resources that are not going to be used.
If you control these four factors, you will have achieved a much more optimized and faster page.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF I DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO THE WPO?
The WPO influences the user experience and the positioning of your website in search engines.
The faster your page, the less likely you are that users will abandon it. If users are comfortable navigating your page, you have a lot going for you to convert them into customers.
Finally, you should not ignore the importance of WPO for Google either . Organic positioning can improve, among other things, if Google considers your page to be relevant from a speed point of view.
Remember that just one extra second can make the difference between getting a new visitor or customer, or losing them forever . If you want to position yourself ahead of your competitors, don’t forget the importance of the WPO in your marketing strategy.
Now it’s your turn: is your website optimized? What tool or tools do you usually use to measure the loading speed of your site ? Tell us which aspects affect the performance of your page the most.
