Test and Improve your SEO & Page Speed with SuperbThemes
You may be tired of reading countless guides on improving a WordPress website page speed. Every blog presenting web development topics includes many articles about speed optimization. It may frustrate you to keep seeing the same tips for accelerating your website's loading speed.
Willing or not, speed optimization will remain a hot topic. Only considerably faster Internet connections, more performant devices and a quicker WordPress core will resolve this issue. Except for a quicker and lightweight WordPress core, these factors are beyond the web developers' reach. We have no choice but to adapt to this provocative context.
Aspiring WordPress users face even more problems. For example, they may be frightened by professional lingo in this area. Time to first byte, caching systems, or NVMe drive are terms that may give them trouble. Fortunately, this guide and our special page speed checker have everything they need. Even experienced users may refresh their knowledge and give our page speed checker a try.
How to Test the Loading Speed
Making your website faster isn't a job for a genius or a highly-skilled user. It's rather a job for ordinary but motivated and hard-working people. It requires trialing and testing, much time, and a sparkle of creativity. If you've read this article until this point, most likely, you are patient and skilled enough to improve your website page speed. Don't expect fast results—sometimes, it might be the host server that slows down your site. Migrating your website solves this issue, but it usually takes time to choose another host.
There are a couple of common suggestions for testing the loading speed for all websites. Some look trivial, but they are crucial for a good start.
Start with an Initial Assessment
You need a plan for improving your website page speed. A 2-3 page plan is enough for small and mid-size websites. No matter the site's complexity and purpose, the first step of this plan is an initial assessment. Only by doing this can you get a clear idea of the progress you need to make. Therefore, the initial assessment is the first step in improving your site speed. Some testing tools allow you to determine the testing environment; for instance, you may single out the type of Internet connection or the data center's location. Keep the same conditions when you test your website page speed again for more accurate feedback.
Stick to a Single Tool
Webmasters have a plethora of tools to test loading speeds. Some are simple, while others are complex. Many are free; a few require paying a fee. Some focus on suggestions, others on practical solutions. Select whichever tool you like and stick to it. The methodologies of evaluating a site's speed are pretty similar, but they have a few differences. There are also different ratings, so what one tool considers an excellent grade, another may consider acceptable. Don't worry, the differences aren't so big to skew the overall performance, but it might matter to you. Consequently, stick to a single tool or pay close attention when using multiple tools. Compare the results generated by each tool, and don't mix them up.
It's a Journey, Not a Destination
Even though it's hard to accept, speed optimization is a never-ending process. Each new blog post, image, or video impacts the speed. The more updates you perform on your site, the more time you'll spend speeding it up. On top of that, speed optimization is mostly about testing. You have a large selection of tools and plugins to use for making your website faster. Some do miracles for many websites, but they may not necessarily work for yours. You don't have any choice but to try them for yourself and measure the results. Don't be disappointed if you see no positive impact. That's why speed optimization is a journey and not a destination!
SuperbThemes Page Speed Checker
Are you asking yourself why on Earth we released a page speed checker if there already are many powerful tools for this? PageSpeed Insights is a Google product that is a great helper for webmasters and provides a complete set of improvement suggestions. There are other great alternatives if you aren't satisfied with PageSpeed Insights. Under these circumstances, does it makes sense to launch another website page speed checker? The short answer is a big, fat YES, and the following distinctive features speak in favor of it.
Extreme Simplicity
A website page speed checker can't be simple and detailed simultaneously. It's a near-impossible mission to provide a complete report and keep the interface uncluttered. Experienced users don't have problems using complex tools, but less-experienced ones can't handle large volumes of data and suggestions. Our page speed checker is specially crafted to allow for a great experience even for non-geeky persons. The data provided is also simple and clear. All you have to do is to enter the URL, and our tool displays a strategic set of grades, in addition to clear and concise recommendations and solutions.
Laser-Focused on Solutions
Simplicity alone brings no advantage for users. Why would someone use a tool, even if it is simple, if there is no advantage to using it? However, our website page speed checker isn't only an enjoyable tool, but it provides great value too. Unlike our competitors, we focused on offering solutions to the users. Instead of a long list of technical recommendations, we provide solutions.
It's not wrong for a tool to itemize advanced suggestions to speed up a website. Yet, these might not be of crucial importance to inexperienced or short-on-time WordPress users. Our page speed checker comes with a simplified interface and is focused on solutions. For example, we inform you that the caching system of your website isn't effective. In addition, we provide concrete solutions, like installing the WP Rocket plugin. We offer both recommendations and solutions, making our tool different from competitors.
Few and Effective Suggestions
A large set of grades and indicators are helpful when dealing with experienced users and big websites. Yet, these may be useless for aspiring WordPress users. Basic data about a website's loading speed is enough for them. That's what our website speed checker does—it provides minimal but actionable data. It shows the following:
- An average score from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the faster the webpage.
- Server Load Time. This metric indicates the speed of your site's host.
- Content Load Time. It shows how much time it takes to load the webpage content.
- Fully Loaded. This metric reveals the time it takes to load all webpage content.
- On-page SEO. The tool analyzes the entire structure of a webpage and rates the on-page optimization for search engines.
No Restrictions
Let's make it clear—we are NOT against premium page speed checkers, and asking for an email address isn't against our principles. However, we feel that we should give something back to the awesome WordPress community. SuperbThemes page speed checker doesn't ask for an email address or a paid subscription. You can use it anytime, on any device, and however many times you want! You have no restrictions to using our page speed checker.
How to Improve the Website Loading Speed
Previously, we covered a few tips to increase website speed; then, we shared our smart, simple, and sexy tool for measuring site performance. It makes sense to also present a few tips to speed up your site loading. Here are our suggestions.
Small and Frequent Iterations
Speed optimization isn't a set-and-forget process. You have to permanently tweak your site to make it as fast as possible. Performing a lot of tasks in bulk, in a single session, instead of small iterations, is also ill-advised. You won't get a clear idea of which job improved or worsened the site performance—you have to make a limited number of tweaks per session and then test the site speed. Ideally, test the site two or three times to be sure of the impact of the action performed. Sometimes, the changes don't accelerate your site. Don't be disappointed; just undo it and start again!
Plugins Make Miracles
Do not rely solely on plugins to speed up your website, but be aware that they are of considerable help to you. Two or three plugins can make your site blazingly fast. Conversely, not all plugins are a good addition to your website. Unless you are a genuine expert or familiar with the installed plugins, testing their settings is the only way to find the proper configuration for a fast website.
Superb Themes page checker suggests plugins to fix website issues. We tested and reviews each recommended plugin, so we are pretty confident that they can boost loading speeds.
The Theme Matters
As harsh as it sounds, changing the theme is sometimes the only solution! However, it's not the norm—it's the exception. A bloated theme slows down a website, no matter your endeavors. A solution is to modify the theme's files, but it's not feasible! Instead, buying a fast-loading theme is better, even though it implies a major redesign. Indeed, you end up working more on your website, but you can rest assured that your site will load faster from now on.
The Host Matters, Too
Less-experienced customers may be especially reticent to invest money into a quality host. However, saving money on hosting means leaving money on the table in the future. Conversely, the most expensive hosting plan doesn't guarantee that it's the best solution for your needs. Choosing the host for your website is instrumental because it impacts the availability, performance, and security. You'd better read our complete hosting reviews before taking any action. Of course, you can also check our page speed checker to confirm if your host is of poor quality.
Don't Hurt User Experience
Usually, the simpler a website is, the faster it loads. Users appreciate simplicity, but a minimalist website may hurt the user experience. Don't strip down your website layout just to get a super fast website! Your work to make a fast website is in vain if users can't quickly find the needed piece of information. Anytime you remove an element from a webpage, consider its role and the overall user experience. Don't sacrifice the user experience with the sole purpose of making your site faster.
Final Verdict
Is this page speed checker worth your time? Is it interesting enough for webmasters? We did strong research before working on this tool, and we consider that this niche isn't saturated at all. A simple and effective page speed checker helps get a first impression in just a few seconds. We are aware that other tools are more sophisticated. Yet, we focused on simplicity and efficiency. You are kindly invited to use our tool and let us know your impressions. User feedback is crucial in our quest to make this tool better suited for your needs.