Optimizing a website, specifically a WordPress website, can be time-consuming. However, it’s importance is directly linked to how well a website will rank in Google.
How come?
The answer to that question is anything but simple.
Google’s Ever Evolving Algorithm
The algorithm that Google uses to determine a site’s rank in the grand scheme of things is considered to be a black box. In other words, the way it works is very mysterious.
Still, we know Google updates their algorithm on a consistent basis, and with each update SEO tends to get turned on its head. For example, back in 2012 when Google released their Penguin update, a lot of companies found their traffic suffering. The reason? Some of these companies had inbound links pointing at their websites from disreputable sources.
Unfortunately, the companies suffering at the time had no idea this was the case. IT seems like with every update to the algorithm, SEO standards changed drastically (some would say for the better).
Still, the situation is not entirely hopeless. There are surefire methods available that can help improve a website’s SEO rank through the increase of page speed.
Increasing Page Speed
In April of 2010, Google put out a blog that confirmed that the search algorithm was taking into account something very specific….that of a website’s page speed. This tends to be an exciting thing because well, Google hardly ever does this.
So what is page speed?
SEOMOZ defines it as “….either “page load time” (the time it takes to fully display the content on a specific page) or “time to first byte” (how long it takes for your browser to receive the first byte of information from the web server).”
This gives us a direction to move in.
We’ve talked before about how well CDNs work with websites. The awesome thing is, you can combine the efforts of a CDN with a variety of other tools. Here are some that can help give your website a boost:
- W3 Total Cache: This caching plugin in something of a staple in just about every one of our WordPress websites. Be warned, however, as it is very complex to setup, especially if you need to manually leverage caching scripts and css files.
- Wp-Smush: Wp-Smush allows you to reduce the sizes of the images in your media library. The best thing about this plugin is the fact that it has a “bulk smush” option that will allow you to reduce 50 images at a time (if you buy the premiuim version, you can do more).
- Gonzales: This plugin is extremely unique. It allows you manually prevent scripts form running on specific pages. While this sounds time-consuming, if you only need to increase the SEO for one page it is very useful.
There are a few other tricks you can use that I won’t get into because of how complex they can become (stuff like editing the htaccess file, minifying scripts and css files, etc.).
Using a bit of elbow grease, you can enhance your site’s SEO by increasing your page speed, or you could contact us to do it for you.
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