WPO ( Web Performance Optimization ) is a fundamental aspect that online businesses and brands must currently consider to attract audiences and improve user experience when browsing their websites, especially if they want to make the most of the large market that the Internet represents .

To achieve all this, it is necessary to improve the website , optimize navigation as much as possible, make it a captivating and attractive page for users and ensure that it provides pleasant experiences when users visit the website.

WPO is the acronym that stands for Web Performance Optimization .

It is a type of optimization that consists of a set of strategies that are intended to improve the performance of a website in all its technical aspects , the loading speed of the pages that comprise it and the browsing experience of the users who visit it.

It is related to SEO, but it is not the same, as it focuses on key aspects such as loading speed and user experience, favoring business objectives while positioning brands on the Internet.

As you can see, WPO is aligned with the current trend where voice searches, local searches and searches made through mobile devices dominate, and nobody wants to wait more than 4 seconds for a website to load.

Patience is no longer a quality that reigns, due to the speed at which the world moves.

That is why these WPO strategies focus on doing what is necessary to achieve better performance for your website , by testing, comparing, providing solutions and carrying out efficient maneuvers.

If with the above mentioned you still do not see the importance of implementing WPO strategies on your website , then we will tell you in a more concrete way.

It is simply important for you to have a website that is optimized in terms of performance , so that your users feel comfortable, are more willing to carry out operations on it and do not find it difficult to spend time on your page.

A well -performing website leads to good sales numbers and more income.

Amazon reported some time ago that because its page took 100 milliseconds to load, it lost 1% of its annual income, and in view of this, it decided to work on improving its WPO, regardless of its reputation, the trust that people have in this e-commerce and the reach of its brand.

Now think what can happen to an emerging business if it fails to improve the performance of its website – simple, it goes bankrupt.

As we said, patience no longer reigns in the world, users who browse the Internet want to see content quickly, they have no time to waste, if a website does not load in the appropriate time then they simply close it and go to another one that gives them the content they are looking for in less loading time, that is why it is important that you resort to WPO.

The advantages of WPO go beyond improving the user experience on your website, making it efficient and attractive, as it also enhances the website so that it is truly a source of growth, positioning and generates new business opportunities, among other benefits that we detail below:

Improve Web Positioning

Just in case it wasn’t clear, we’ll emphasize that the WPO’s focus is on the website’s loading speed, because this is one of the biggest annoyances for users. If what they want to see doesn’t load quickly (4 seconds maximum), it won’t do any good to have valuable and attractive content, and it also strongly influences SEO positioning.

This is something that Google and other search engine algorithms are becoming more and more demanding about, giving priority in their search results (SERPs) to sites that have a faster loading speed or, in other words, a shorter loading time.

Additionally, the website must function properly so that the user can spend as much time as possible browsing the page, making transactions or simply browsing, because this is also considered by Google’s algorithm; the longer you manage to retain the user on your website, the more relevant the content it offers is.

Among the tools offered by the WPO to increase the loading speed of a website is image optimization, using applications to compress them, so that the pages can have this key factor that improves the user experience, without affecting the speed of loading the page.

Plugins are also used to reduce and optimize JPG, PNG or GIF files, which also contribute to the automatic optimization of images.

Increase the Probability of Conversion

By using WPO to enhance your website, you immediately influence business processes and strategies, as it helps to strategically guide users to complete the business process.

To do this, you must ensure that potential clients remain on the page long enough to be engaged, that they visit various sections of the website, and the WPO will take care of this by optimizing the page to motivate visitors to explore all the functionalities, content and corners of the site.

Well, WPO helps encourage users to fill out forms and go to other windows to obtain more information, thereby boosting the conversion rate and its strategies, using resources such as, for example, interactive web pages that encourage visitors to click on your resources in order to collect valuable data from your users.

Retain Users on Your Website

We have been mentioning the importance of retaining users on your website, because it is linked to loyalty and a longer customer life cycle.

These are benefits that WPO provides, due to the complete optimization of the page, as it will not only keep them browsing it longer, but it will make them return frequently and it will be one of their favorite websites when browsing the Internet.

It can be said that with the implementation of the WPO, a loyal and large community is built in a sustainable way.

Improve Return on Investment

Although having a website is a relatively simple thing, this does not mean that in order to have visibility and captivate users who help achieve the objectives, you do not have to invest. On the contrary, it requires an investment of time, money and effort.

But, if you get everything to fit together correctly and apply good WPO practices, it will be a very profitable and safe investment.

Well, a website has greater commercial opportunities because the possibilities of significantly expanding the client portfolio and in turn sales, which translates into income, are almost infinite.

If you really want the implementation of WPO to be successful and give a positive turn to your website in a way that ensures business opportunities and profitability, in addition to all the benefits we listed previously, you must make sure to comply with the factors we mention below:

Select a Hosting that is a Solid Solution

Optimizing your website must include the development of the page, make sure to follow the best criteria and practices, you must host your website on a quality , flexible, customizable hosting with great management capacity.

However, shared hosting is also useful if your website does not have major technical requirements or multiple management features.

The choice you make should be based on the characteristics and needs of your company, as well as the quality offered by the hosting and the references, ratings and experiences it has from other users, so that it is a decision based on the potential offered by the hosting service.

The host must have a robust structure and channels capacity in terms of effective support, which allows the page to have a good performance and not to constantly crash.

Compress Images

This factor has already been mentioned, but it is so important that we emphasize it, as it influences web loading speed .

It affects the user experience and this affects the signals that Google’s algorithm receives about your website, so that you have a good position in the search results (SERPs).

You must check the format in which you upload your images so that they are optimized; JPEG and PNG formats are recommended.

Use Lightweight Insoles

Like the previous factor, this one affects web loading speed and is an element that makes up the WPO.

Even though a template is what defines the look and feel of your page, it doesn’t mean that a heavier one is better.

However, although the choice depends on the concept and style you want to give to your site, it is recommended that you choose a lightweight option so that the loading speed is not affected and your users have a pleasant experience.

Let JavaScript and CSS Resources not Have a Big Impact

These do not directly affect the web loading speed , but they do considerably influence the user experience because they interrupt and hinder user navigation through your website. You may wonder, how? Well, an example is the CSS that blocks the visibility of the main pages of your website, this causes a very bad impression on your users.

It is recommended that you compact all files and remove all unnecessary characters, but be careful not to affect the functionality of the page.

Optimizing Caching

In case you didn’t know, when we talk about cache memory, we are referring to a storage layer on your hard drive that allows you to save data from those sites that are loaded when you browse a website, helping them to load much faster when you re-enter them, without having to load them again, thanks to the fact that there are already traces of it on your computer.

It is important because it increases data recovery and makes the process more efficient. Keeping it optimized improves loading speed . However, even though the information stored in the cache is temporary, it is still recommended that a caching tool be installed.

You must use a CDN

These acronyms correspond to Content Delivery Network, which in Spanish means content distribution network.

It refers to a key factor in providing content to your website, including tasks such as improving the loading time and functionality of your website pages.

But why?

Because it makes the images and other content of a website remain static on servers that are distributed throughout the world, therefore, the loading speed does not decrease due to geographical factors, since it will load your website from the server that is closest to the user who enters the page.

Enable Prefetching Options and Settings

This will be like giving intelligence to your website, as it will execute steps before the user starts them.

Example: loading links, presenting an image or video of interest, all based on the study and analysis of navigation patterns carried out by User Experience ( UX ) experts that allow us to understand user behavior.

Free your Database

This practice is very important in WPO.

Keep your website clean of plugins that are not functional, because they do not really generate value, but they do affect the database and loading speed .

For this reason, you should perform simple, routine maintenance to ensure that the spam comment page is kept clean, empty the trash, and delete plugins that are no longer used or do not provide functionality to the website.

Use Gzip Compression

This is in addition to image compression, since Gzip (free software) when active on your website and included in the automatic configurations, compresses the size of any file, reducing HTTP requests and server response time.

This work is done before sending them to the browser, which implies immediate optimization and contributes to streamlining technical work.

Hotlinking Blocking

This technique offers documents or content on a website, but these are actually hosted on another site or server, which makes it easy for plagiarism and copyright infringement activities to be carried out, so it mainly affects those pages that offer original content.

If the actual website loses access control to its files, it has the possibility of experiencing server saturation which affects its speed.

This is why it is recommended to activate the option that your hosting provider should provide to block hotlinking.

Cloud hosting is a good option

It has the advantage that the website is not linked to a main server, which is always located in the same environment, but thanks to cloud hosting it can have one or more virtual servers that are not necessarily located in the same environment.

In this way, applications or websites can be available on the Internet without having to use a large amount of bandwidth in terms of the request received by the server, benefiting in terms of scalability, which refers to the increase or decrease of computational resources based on the specific needs of the website and influencing the reduction of expenses in terms of infrastructure.

Use web Caching

This means storing the current version of your website on the hosting and presenting it until it has an update, avoiding it from being processed over and over again every time a user enters.

Optimizing load time, bandwidth and latency.

It is best to use the same support for a maximum of one week so that it does not weaken and you do not lose its benefits.

Eliminate HTTP Requests that have no Functional Value

This will allow you to provide a better user experience, as you will favor the loading speed and technical optimization promoted by the WPO , meeting the expectations of users who expect the website to load in 2 seconds or less, according to KISSmetrics.

In addition, you make your website more responsive, as users will not have to wait too long for it to load when using it from mobile devices.

You can do this by viewing all the requests for your page in real time in the network panel of your browser and there you can schedule the elimination of these.

Optimizing your Website Database and CMS

It improves its technical performance , so you must use a tool that compresses the size of the database, but without losing functional value.

Depending on the characteristics of your CMS, another option is to implement a comprehensive content management solution based on WordPress, which includes space optimization structures and practices.

Reduce and Avoid 301 Redirects

This is because, if they are done poorly and in too many quantities, they can harm the user experience and affect the technical performance of your website, as they also affect the loading time since they generate additional round-trip times.

To find them you can scan your website and then set it to delete them.

We hope that with all the content of this article you now know what WPO is and why it is so beneficial to improve your website, as well as how you should implement it to be successful.

As you can see, it is a practice that has advantages both technically, in terms of experience and in terms of the impact of your website on people, as it promotes digital marketing, helping it to meet its objectives.

However, it is important that you understand that to carry out WPO you must have a high degree of specialization and technical knowledge in the area of ​​programming, web development and related fields.