Learn how to reduce server response time by applying these seven actionable tips.
Introduction:
A visitor decides within the first few seconds if they are going to stay on your website or leave. If a page takes more than five seconds to load, the likelihood of a visitor leaving increases by 90%.
Website owners must reduce server response times to ensure their websites load faster. Faster load times result in fewer abandonments and help websites rank better in Google search results.
What Is Server Response Time?
Server response time is the time that passes between a client requesting a page in a browser and a server responding to that request. It is measured by TTFB (Time to First Byte). TTFB is how many milliseconds it takes to receive the first byte of the page after sending an HTTP request.
Why Is Server Response Time Important?
The consequence of a slow website can be damaging to business. Your website’s loading time significantly affects user experience.
Research reveals that over 40% of web users abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Also, the more time it needs to load, the worse it ranks on the search engine result page (SERP).
Response time influences:
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User Experience (UX)
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Improving search engine optimization and user experience are critical strategies in digital marketing. This is a good enough reason to check your server response time and explore new ways to improve it.
1. Website Speed and SEO:
Google announced that the loading speed of a page is a key ranking factor. The company even created PageSpeed Insights, a tool to enhance website performance. The metric is simple: the better the TTFB, the higher the ranking on Google.
Loading Speed Impacts UX
The reputation of a brand depends on the user experience their website provides.
Slow-loading websites frustrate visitors, making them lose patience and navigate away. One poor response may even result in a visitor never returning to your website
How to Improve Server Response Time:
Use Reliable and Fast Web Hosting
Data Center Location. Select a provider with data centers near your target audience to enhance server response time and speed
Bandwidth and Throughput. Verify that the host has the necessary capacity to support your website’s data demands, especially for data-intensive platforms.
Scalability. Commercial websites, for example, ecommerce stores, often experience traffic surges during holidays or due to trending products. The web host must be equipped to scale up server resources and guarantee uninterrupted service and speeds during peak times.
Customer Support Services. Look for 24/7 technical support to promptly address and resolve technical issues and ensure optimal website performance.
2. Use a CDN:
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) distributes website content across a global network of proxy servers. When a user visits a website, the CDN redirects their request to the nearest server in this network.
Users receive cached HTML pages, JavaScript files, stylesheets, images, and videos from the closest server. The proximity reduces latency, the time it takes data to travel between the user and the server, and results in faster website loading times.
3. Optimize Databases:
As databases grow over time, they become less efficient at storing and accessing data. To improve database performance, you need to remove unnecessary data, reduce the size of the database, and optimize its structure. The faster the database completes its operations, the faster the server responds to the website visitor's request.
WordPress website owners can also use cPanel or phpMyAdmin to manage their database. However, you can also install WordPress database optimization plugins. These plugins are specifically created to enhance WordPress database performance and can help you streamline the following operations:
Deleting unnecessary data such as post revisions and spam comments.
Compacting and defragmenting database tables.
Clearing out the trash folder.
Automating database clean-ups.
4. File Compression:
Websites are no longer a collection of static pages but a dynamic platform with multiple datatypes and integrated third-party functionalities and features. The size of files being delivered to users is increasing, consequently prolonging TTFB.
5. Monitor PHP Usage:
PHP scripts that are part of multiple concurrent server processes can contribute to higher resource usage, potentially slowing down the server's ability to serve a page to a visitor.
If you are running a PHP script, ensure it is not overtaxing vital CPU and memory resources. Avoid unnecessary database queries and implement caching strategies to reduce load times.
Outdated PHP versions are a significant security risk. Some hosting companies do not automatically update PHP, so this process often needs to be done manually.
You can check your PHP version using the command line or PHP code. If you have a WordPress website, verify the version using the PHP Compatibility Checker plugin.
Upgrade to a newer PHP version through cPanel or by contacting your hosting provider.
6. Configure Caching:
Caching database queries. Executing database queries is a resource-intensive task. Reduce the number of queries by storing results from frequent or repeated requests
Web page caching. Save copies of fully rendered web pages in the cache. Servers can deliver these pages without additional processing
Browser caching. Instruct browsers to store certain files locally on the user's device
Pre-Caching. Analyze user behavior and anticipate subsequent requests. You can pre-load assets that are most likely to be needed for future interactions
Object Caching. Cache the results of complex calculations and API call responses. Scripts do not need to process the same requests again or make additional API calls
7. Minify Scripts:
Minification is the process of reducing the size of code files to enhance website performance. This is achieved by removing unnecessary characters, such as whitespaces, comments, and long variable names, without altering the code's functionality.
In the context of a website, external files like JavaScript (JS) and CSS affect page load speeds. Minifying and compressing these scripts are standard practices, especially in CMS platforms like WordPress.
To improve website loading speeds and overall user experience:
Embed smaller code files directly within the HTML as internal code to decrease load times
Keep larger and static files external to enhance caching efficiency
This approach ensures large data files remain accessible without compromising performance.