Why Performance Matters
Website performance directly impacts user experience, conversion rates, and even SEO rankings. Here are five quick optimizations you can implement today:
1. Optimize Images
Images often account for the largest portion of page weight. Optimize them by:
- Using modern formats like WebP or AVIF
- Implementing responsive images with
srcset - Lazy loading images below the fold
<img
src="image-small.jpg"
srcset="image-small.jpg 400w, image-medium.jpg 800w, image-large.jpg 1200w"
sizes="(max-width: 600px) 400px, (max-width: 1200px) 800px, 1200px"
loading="lazy"
alt="Description"
/>2. Enable Text Compression
Enable Gzip or Brotli compression on your server to reduce text-based resource sizes by 70-90%:
# Nginx example
gzip on;
gzip_types text/plain text/css application/javascript application/json;3. Implement Critical CSS
Inline critical CSS to eliminate render-blocking resources:
<head>
<!-- Critical CSS inlined -->
<style></style>
<!-- Non-critical CSS loaded asynchronously -->
<link rel="preload" href="styles.css" as="style" onload="this.onload=null;this.rel='stylesheet'">
</head>4. Cache Assets Properly
Set appropriate cache headers for static assets:
# Nginx example
location ~* .(css|js|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2)$ {
expires 1y;
add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000, immutable";
}5. Defer Non-Critical JavaScript
Move non-essential JavaScript loading to after critical content:
<script src="non-critical.js" defer></script>Conclusion
These five optimizations can significantly improve your website’s performance with minimal effort. Start implementing them today to provide a better user experience and improve your site’s metrics.