How to Reduce Page Size for Better Performance in 2024
As a website owner or developer, one of your top priorities should be delivering a fast, seamless user experience. The size of your webpages plays a key role in site performance, affecting page load times, user satisfaction, conversion rates, and even search rankings.
According to the latest data from HTTP Archive, the median page size on desktop is 2.2 MB and on mobile it‘s 1.9 MB as of May 2023. While this is a slight improvement from previous years, there‘s still a lot of room for optimization, especially with Google using Core Web Vitals as ranking signals.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll dive into why page size matters and share 12 actionable tips you can implement today to slim down your pages and speed up your site. Let‘s get started!
Why Page Size Matters for UX, Performance & SEO
Page size directly impacts how quickly your webpages load for visitors. Larger pages with unoptimized images, scripts, and other resources take longer to download and render in the browser. This can lead to a poor user experience, with slow loading pages, layout shifts, and sluggish interactivity.
Not only do users care about speed, search engines like Google do too. As part of its push toward prioritizing page experience, Google has made Core Web Vitals (CWV) official ranking factors as of June 2021. CWV measure loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability – all of which are influenced by page size and efficient resource loading. Simply put, smaller pages tend to yield better CWV scores.
Additionally, page size is even more critical in 2024 with the continued growth of mobile search. Google has shifted to mobile-first indexing, meaning it predominantly uses the mobile version of your page for indexing and ranking. With mobile devices often having slower processors and network connections, it‘s paramount to optimize page size and loading for smaller screens and limited bandwidth.
So how can you put your pages on a much-needed "diet" and reap the benefits of faster loading? Here are 12 proven tips.
12 Tips to Reduce Page Size & Improve Performance
- Optimize images
As images often make up the largest portion of a page‘s total size, optimizing them can make a significant impact. For each image, make sure to:
- Resize to the maximum display dimensions needed
- Compress using a tool like ImageOptim, ShortPixel, or TinyPNG
- Serve images in next-gen formats like WebP or AVIF
- Lazy load offscreen or below-the-fold images
- Specify width and height to avoid layout shifts
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Minify HTML, CSS & JavaScript
Minification removes unnecessary characters (like whitespace, comments, and formatting) from your code to reduce file size without changing functionality. Use tools like HTMLMinifier, CSSNano, UglifyJS, or bundlers like Webpack or Rollup to automate the process. -
Enable text compression
Compression algorithms like Gzip or Brotli can significantly reduce the transfer size of your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. Configure your web server to compress resources before sending them to the browser. -
Leverage browser caching & CDNs
Browser caching instructs the visitor‘s browser to "remember" previously downloaded resources to avoid re-downloading them on subsequent pages or visits. Use caching headers like Cache-Control and Expires to specify long cache lifetimes for static resources.
Additionally, consider using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve cacheable content from geographically distributed servers closer to the user, reducing latency.
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Remove unused code & resources
Audit your pages to identify any unnecessary code, plugins, libraries, web fonts, or other resources that can be eliminated or deferred. Tools like Chrome DevTools Coverage and Lighthouse can help pinpoint unused JavaScript and CSS. -
Split code into critical & non-critical
Isolate the code and styles needed for above-the-fold content and inline them in the HTML to enable instant rendering. Then, load any non-critical scripts and CSS asynchronously to avoid blocking page rendering. -
Avoid redirects
Redirects trigger additional HTTP requests and slow down page rendering. Minimize or remove redirects whenever possible, especially on critical loading paths. -
Preload key requests
Use to prioritize fetching resources that are essential for the page but discovered late by the browser. This can include certain scripts, stylesheets, fonts or hero images. Preloading allows the browser to download these resources sooner and speed up rendering. -
Structure HTML for progressive rendering
Place your main content high in the HTML document and load sidebars, widgets, and other supplementary content after. This allows browsers to progressively render and display the most important part of the page while scripts and other resources are still downloading. -
Avoid enormous network payloads
Scrutinize the resource transfer size required for each page and look for opportunities to reduce it. Avoid serving massive, multi-megabyte JavaScript bundles or high-resolution images when smaller, optimized versions would suffice. Set performance budgets to catch any ballooning page sizes before they reach production. -
Use mobile-first CSS & conditional loading
Design your CSS for mobile viewports first, then use media queries to progressively enhance for larger screens. This keeps your base stylesheet lean for mobile devices. Additionally, use media queries to conditionally load heavier CSS for features only needed on desktop viewports. -
Monitor & optimize
Regularly audit your site‘s pages using tools like Google‘s PageSpeed Insights or WebPageTest to track page size and performance over time. Treat performance as an ongoing process, not a one-time fix. Make optimization a part of your development and content management workflows.
Putting Your Pages on a "Diet"
By following these 12 tips, you can effectively streamline your pages, reduce bloat, and deliver a faster, more seamless experience to your visitors. While it may take some ongoing effort to maintain a "lean" site, the rewards are well worth it.
Optimizing page size improves loading times, interactivity, and user experience on both desktop and mobile. It can also positively impact your search engine rankings as page experience becomes an increasingly important signal for Google and other search engines.
The key is to make optimization a continuous process and a core part of how you develop and publish content on your site. By keeping page size top of mind and leveraging the right tools and techniques, you can ensure your site remains fast, lean, and high-performing in 2024 and beyond.
