There are so many websites that are available online, in every subject and in every industry on the planet. These millions of websites are accessed every day by people from every country and the internet has almost become one of the basic needs of human beings in the 21st century.
The internet has evolved over the decade and one of the key aspects of this evolution is its speed. Earlier dial-up internet was very slow. Now with fast broadband internet in almost all major towns and cities in the world, people are demanding fast internet and a slowdown in loading speeds for the internet can create a huge problem for users.
There are many reasons why internet slows down and websites are unable to load at top speeds online. By making changes while creating the website it will load faster for users. The following are some of the reasons why websites load slowly on the internet:
Reasons Why Website Speeds Are Slow Online
HTTP Requests
By minimizing the HTTP request, a website can be loaded faster. Individually HTTP request for elements of the websites like images and scripts make it slower to load the websites causing a delay in load time. By assessing the number of HTTP request and then finding ways to reduce them reduces the webpage load time.
High Server Response Time
The amount of time the DNS or domain name system takes to look up the website on the server affects the speed of the website. The amount of time depends on the speed of the DNS provider. There are DNS charts available online which showcase the speed of the different DNS provider. By choosing a DNS provider with top speed, website owners can reduce load time.
Compressed Files
Files on web pages need to be compressed and the size of the images and other content should be as small as possible. One of the reasons why the websites speeds are slow is because there are large files, videos, and images which take a long time to download.
There are various ways to reduce the size and overall page by compressing these files using tools and software available online without compromising on the quality of the content. Image sizes, in particular, can be easily reduced as large images slow down the speed of websites.
Browser Caching
When a website is visited by users, a temporary internet file is created in the cache of the user’s computer. The next time the same website is visited, the browser loads the page faster without sending another HTTP request to servers. The way a website owner sets up the caching process impacts the load time of the website. By optimizing the caching process, websites can be loaded in a faster way.
A Large Number of Plugins
If there are large numbers of Plugins on a webpage to improve functionality and user experience, it can cause security issues and technical difficulties. If there are a lot of Plugins it slows down the website. If these Plugins are outdated and incorrectly configured, websites will slow down considerably.
Sometimes people add Plugins that are completely unnecessary to make the Web Pages as functional as possible eliminating these website Plugins will improve the overall speed.
Elaborate Code
A website depends on the code written for the website. Writing the code of the website is an art and a messy code can affect the website speed. Minimizing the code and customizing it in such a way that there are no lines breaks and spaces and unnecessary code that is not needed will help the website to load in a faster way. Reducing or minimizing the code as much as possible help make websites load in a faster way.
Monitor the Website Loading Speeds
One of the reasons why website loading speeds slow down is that website owners do not monitor the speed over time and the website slows down. There are various factors why websites slow down over time.
There are website speed tests available online. By using these tests website owners should monitor the speed of their websites using these test. These tests also give insights on why websites are slowing down and web owners can get to the root of the problem and fix it accordingly. This will help maintain the speed of the website over a long period of time. It greatly depends on the hosting company as well. If you are looking for a hosting company you should check out wp engine.
Conclusion
Generally, each subject online has millions of web pages dedicated to it. To compete with other websites a key element is the load time speed of the website. Users will invariably use websites that load faster than those which take a long time to load. As mentioned above, there are various reasons why websites slow down and the speed at which the website can be used is reduced. Website owners should keep a regular watch on their website’s speed and resolve speed related issues to make their website more competitive and faster to use on the internet.
