You might be thinking, is it really that important to check my website speed? Will my visitors really notice the difference? The answer is YES! Because we live in a digital world where people quickly scroll and want information loaded before their eyes in mere seconds. Nobody likes a slow website, so if your site takes too long to load, you risk losing that site visitor. Knowing your website speed will indicate if your website is within the acceptable range of speed performance. The faster your website loads, the better user experience your visitors will have, impacting your website performance.
Did you know that Google will also rank your website lower in the search results if your website doesn’t load quickly? Having a fast-loading website provides a positive experience for users, which Google LOVES! The beauty is that it only takes a few seconds to look under the hood and check your WordPress website speed. Let’s get started!
There are a plethora of tools that you can use today to check your WordPress website speed, but iVersion recommends four trusted automated tools, including Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and Pingdom.
These tools break down your website speed score and provide suggestions for fixing your website issues to improve your score and load time. So without further ado, let’s drill down to our top 4 WordPress Website Speed recommendations.
Google Chrome Lighthouse Test
Google Chrome Lighthouse test is an open-source tool that helps improve the quality of your web pages by running audits for performance, accessibility, SEO and, of course, website speed, including how quickly your website loads and how long it takes before a user can view and access the content.
To run Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools, follow these six simple steps.
Step 6: Click Run audit. After 30 to 60 seconds, Lighthouse gives you a report on the page, including your website’s speed.
Here are a couple of screenshots detailing the steps above.
PageSpeed Insights
Simple to use, PageSpeed Insights provides a thorough breakdown of your website’s performance with suggestions on improving your score. Follow the three steps below to run the WordPress Speed Test for your site.
Here’s a screenshot of the GTmetrix site. As you can see, the design is simple and functional making it easy for beginners to use.
Pingdom WordPress Speed Test
The Pingdom WordPress Speed Test allows you to enter a URL, test the page load time and analyse it with suggestions on improving your website’s speed performance and tips on improving your WordPress Speed Optimisation.
Step 3: Select the region you want to test the site from. Typically, you’d pick the region where your target market resides.
Step 4: Click Start Test.
An easy-to-use tool, the Pingdom website stands out and showcases a simple tool for novices alike.
Tips and Tricks to Fix Your Website Speed
Did the test come back with poor results? No problem. We published this guide to help you identify everything you need to do to boost your website speed. Another thing you want to check is your web hosting to ensure it's not slowing your website.
Lighthouse, GTmetrix, PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom all provide suggestions and tips on how to improve your WordPress website speed, but this can be a little daunting for businesses who don’t have a dedicated IT specialist on board and are not tech savvy when it comes to taking action and fixing the problem. Have no fear because this is where iVersion can help.
iVersion can be your digital eyes and highlight your website speed issues in a simplified way, and then provide solutions to those problems to get your website where it needs to be.
If your website needs a little tender, love and care, contact iVersion today to discuss your speed test results and how we can work together to optimise your website for the better.
