Web Design
How to Register a .com.au Domain
How to get a .com.au domain: eligibility, choosing a name, registering it, WHOIS privacy and the .au direct option if you have no ABN.
How to improve website speed, in short: test your pages to see what’s slow, then fix the usual culprits in order. That usually means compressing and resizing images, turning on caching, serving files through a content delivery network, removing plugins and scripts you don’t need, and moving to better hosting if the server itself is slow. Most small business sites get noticeably faster from the first two steps alone.
If you’ve searched “how to speed up my website”, most of the steps below can be done without a developer. Speed matters because people leave slow pages, especially on phones, and because Google’s ranking systems look at page experience, including how quickly a page loads.
How do you test website speed?
The simplest way to check website speed is Google’s free PageSpeed Insights. Paste in a page address and it shows two things:
- Real-user data (if your site has enough visitors): how fast the page has actually loaded for people over the past 28 days.
- A lab test: a fresh test with a list of what is slowing the page down.
Test your home page and your most important service pages, on mobile first. Google Search Console also has a Core Web Vitals report that groups your slow pages together.
What is a good website page speed?
Google measures website page speed with three Core Web Vitals. According to Google’s web.dev guide, a good experience means:
| Metric | What it measures | Good |
|---|---|---|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | How quickly the main content appears | 2.5 seconds or less |
| Interaction to Next Paint (INP) | How quickly the page responds to a tap or click | 200 milliseconds or less |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | How much the page jumps around while loading | 0.1 or less |
You don’t need a perfect score. Aim to pass these three on mobile for your key pages.
How can I speed up my website?
Work through these steps in order. Each one is a common fix for how to speed up loading time of website pages.
1. Compress and resize images
Large photos are the most common cause of slow pages. Resize images to the size they actually display at, compress them, and use a modern format such as WebP. Free tools like Squoosh do this in a browser, and many website platforms compress images on upload.
2. Turn on caching
Caching saves a ready-made copy of each page so the server doesn’t rebuild it for every visitor. Most hosts and WordPress caching plugins can switch this on in minutes.
3. Use a content delivery network (CDN)
A CDN stores copies of your images, styles and scripts on servers around the world, so visitors download them from somewhere close. It also takes load off your own server.
4. Remove what you don’t need
Every plugin, chat widget, tracking script, font and slider adds weight. Remove the ones you no longer use, and keep the rest up to date.
5. Lazy-load images and videos below the fold
Lazy loading delays images further down the page until the visitor scrolls to them, so the top of the page appears sooner. Don’t lazy-load the main image at the top of the page, because that slows down LCP.
6. Minimise redirects
Each redirect adds a delay. When you change a page address, redirect straight from the old address to the new one, never through a chain of redirects.
7. Check your hosting
If the server takes a long time to respond before anything loads, no amount of image work will fix it. Cheap shared hosting is a common cause, and moving to a better host can make a big difference.
How do you speed up a WordPress website?
To speed up WordPress website performance, the same steps apply, with a few WordPress-specific tips:
- Use a lightweight, well-coded theme rather than a theme packed with features you’ll never use.
- Install one good caching plugin (not several) and an image optimisation plugin.
- Deactivate and delete plugins you don’t use, then test speed again.
- Keep WordPress, your theme and your plugins updated.
- Choose hosting built for WordPress if your site has grown.
Regular maintenance keeps a WordPress site quick as it grows. Our website care plans include updates and security checks, and our WordPress web design team builds sites with speed in mind from the start.
Does Cloudflare speed up a website?
Often, yes. Cloudflare is a widely used CDN, and its caching stores copies of your site’s files on servers closer to your visitors. The biggest gains come for sites with lots of images or visitors spread across the country. It won’t fix a slow server or heavy pages on its own, so do the other steps too.
How do you fix a slow website?
Start with PageSpeed Insights and look at the “Diagnostics” list. It names the specific files and scripts causing trouble. Fix the biggest items first (usually images, then caching, then scripts), retest after each change, and stop when your key pages pass on mobile. If the report points to server response time, talk to your host or developer. When the fixes are technical, our technical SEO team can work through them for you.
Frequently asked questions
How do you increase website loading speed quickly?
Knowing how to improve website loading speed starts with the quickest wins: compressing large images and turning on caching. Both can often be done in an afternoon without a developer. Removing unused plugins and scripts is next. These three steps usually make the biggest difference to how to increase website speed on a small business site.
Does website speed affect SEO?
Yes, but it isn’t everything. Google says page experience, including Core Web Vitals, is something its ranking systems reward, though great content still matters more. Speed matters even more for visitors: a slow page on a phone loses people before they see what you offer, which also pushes up your bounce rate.
Why is my website slow on mobile but fine on desktop?
Phones often have slower connections and less processing power, so heavy images and scripts hurt more. Google also tests and ranks the mobile version of your site, as our guide to mobile-first indexing explains. Always test and fix mobile first.
Do I need a new website to fix speed?
Not always. Most speed problems can be fixed on the existing site. If the site is built on an old, bloated theme or page builder, a rebuild can be cheaper than patching it. If simple fixes will do the job, we’ll tell you before we quote.
The short version
Test with PageSpeed Insights, fix images and caching first, add a CDN, trim plugins and scripts, and check your hosting. Retest after each change. If you’d rather hand it over, our web design team can make your site faster.
