🤔How to increase your page speed according to Google

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Disclosure: This content may contain few affiliate links, which means if you click on them, I will get a commission (without any extra cost to you).

Read time: 5 minutesHey, Shane here,Before we jump into this week's valuable insights, a quick replay of last week's topic - We delved into the intricacies of the Interaction to Next Paint (INP) metric and how you can prepare for Google’s 2024 Core Web Vitals update.A few hours later on Reddit, Google’s John Mueller shared some valuable insights on improving website speed.So this week, we're laser-focused on Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool and the expert insights shared by Google’s very own, John Mueller.In this edition of Marketing Mix by Shane, I’ll help you unlock the secrets to improving your website's loading speed and achieving green scores in your PageSpeed Insights reports. Let's dive in!

What you’ll find in this week’s newsletter:

• Tips to improve your PageSpeed Insights scores

• This week’s featured tool

• This week’s blog updates

A special thanks to sponsors who keep this newsletter free: Semrush is my go-to all-in-one SEO tool. I use it daily for keyword research, competitive analysis, rank tracking, and even content quality checking.

Google’s John Mueller Gives Tips to Improve Your PageSpeed Insights Scores

A Reddit user sought guidance after significantly reducing image and video file sizes didn't lead to expected improvements in their PSI scores.Despite compressing images by 90% and videos by 80%, PSI's evaluation of their site's speed remained unchanged.

To provide context, PSI is a free service by Google for evaluating the loading speeds of web pages. It assesses various elements, including images, scripts, and code, generating a score from 0 to 100 while offering performance enhancement recommendations.Given the significance of page speed for search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience, achieving a high PSI score is a top priority for many web professionals.In response to this Reddit user’s query, Google’s John Mueller suggested the following:

Mueller’s Tips to Improve Your PageSpeed Insights Score

Mueller asked the user to follow a testing approach to understand how individual elements impact your website's performance.

He suggests temporarily placing a single component, such as an image or video, on a no-indexed page that is excluded from search results.

Mueller explains:"What I usually do when I work on things like that is to simplify things on a no-indexed test page as much as possible. Just include one of the elements that you’re worried about and try things out there. That way, you can isolate specific changes and determine their individual effects before you do everything together."

This controlled experiment can reveal performance enhancements from compressed files before implementing changes across the entire website.If you’re looking to compress your images without losing image quality, try my free image compression tool.

Mueller also emphasizes that if your test page doesn't return the same score as your live pages, it indicates the presence of limiting factors beyond images and videos.In such cases, selectively removing elements that are already optimized from a copy of the actual page can help you focus on improvements for the remaining issues.

Mueller notes:

"If you find that the combined page doesn’t react the way your test pages did, then there are other things on that page that are the limiting factors. In that case, make a copy of the actual page, remove the things you already optimized, and then try things out on the rest there."

Lastly, Mueller mentions that if your site's page speed falls within "reasonable" parameters, extensive additional work may not be necessary. However, he doesn't provide specific criteria for what constitutes "reasonable" page speed.

My Exclusive Tips for Lightning-Fast Page Loading Speed

Now that we’ve discussed John Mueller’s tips, I’d like to add some other areas you can focus on when trying to improve your page loading speed.

1. Choose premium hosting: Invest in a hosting provider known for speed and reliability. Hosting can greatly impact your page loading times. I recommend Bluehost and Cloudways.

2. Optimize your images: Compress and resize images to reduce their weight without compromising quality. Utilize plugins like WP Smush or SiteGround Speed Optimizer for your WordPress website.

3. Reduce unnecessary redirects: Minimize redirects to streamline the loading process and avoid unnecessary delays.

4. Leverage caching: Caching stores copies of your website's files, making pages load faster. Consider using caching plugins like W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket.

5. Enable browser caching: Enable browser caching to store information, reducing the need for complete page reloads on each visit.

6. Optimize CSS and JavaScript: Use plugins like Autoptimize or WP Rocket to minify, defer, and combine CSS and JavaScript files.

7. Utilize a content delivery network (CDN): A CDN distributes your website's content across the globe, reducing latency and improving load times.

8. Streamline your plugin list: Keep your plugin selection lean and updated. Too many plugins can slow down your website and pose security risks.Want to get a quick overview of your website’s SEO health? Sitechecker offers a free site audit tool that quickly scans your entire website. They also offer a 14-day free trial.